AIRASIA Group Bhd is looking to slash its fleet of 245 aircraft by returning planes to lessors, Reuters reported Tony Fernandes as saying today.

The group chief executive said they are already looking at returning 22 planes from this year.

“We are not going to buy new planes and we are going to return as many as we can. 

“I estimate by the end of next year we’ll be flying 180 planes,” Fernandes told reporters.

Fernandes was also reported as saying by the site that the budget carrier is still in talks with plane manufacturer Airbus about cutting down pending orders.

“I don’t see us getting into a position where we want to buy planes for a number of years. 

“Even if we want to buy planes, there will probably be a lot of cheap secondhand planes,” he added.

Fernandes’ announcement comes on the back of the airline shutting its Japan operations.

Its long-haul arm AirAsia X Bhd had also announced plans to restructure US$15.3 billion (RM63.5 billion) in debt.

Like many other airlines, AirAsia has been hit hard by travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. – October 8, 2020.