MANILA: Initial share sale plans for both proceeding well, with Indonesia unit IPO possible before year end and Philippines likely next year, AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes says.
* There are no regulatory hurdles to Philippine IPO, which will likely happen in mid-2018, he says at briefing to introduce AirAsia’s “I love Asean” logo for group’s 50th anniversary
* AirAsia planning more Asean routes to Davao City, with first route from Kuala Lumpur to Davao by December
** Airline also looking at Kota Kinabalu-Davao and Asean to Puerto Princesa
* Fernandes says Philippine government should consider removing airport tax in cities outside Manila to boost tourism traffic
* AirAsia, which is seeking to match size of rival Cebu Air, has
had tough time in Philippines, “we haven’t been warmly welcomed by the incumbent which we’d expect but we’ve hang in there, we’re doing a good job now and we’ll re-grow that will take us to 18 aircraft”
* Asean’s market of ~700m people “gives us a much better chance to compete against the world,’’