KUALA LUMPUR: Capital A Bhd chief executive officer (CEO) Tan Sri Tony Fernandes has shelved his plans on retirement temporarily to continue leading the aviation group for the next five years.
The company's board of directors has approved the extension of Fernandes' contract as Capital A edges closer towards lifting its Practice Note 17 (PN17) status while strengthening the growth of its subsidiaries.
Fernandes said his contract extension is the start of one of the many announcements that Capital A will make over the next two weeks.
"From today onwards there will be a bunch of announcements over the next few weeks and then everyone will be clear," he told reporters at a media briefing here today.
He added that the contract extension announcement will clear the air over speculation on whether he will remain at Capital A or not and to give clarity to investors that the co-founder of AirAsia is here to stay.
"Hopefully from this week and today is the start of a comeback (for Capital A) with my appointment. That ends the speculation – Am I staying? Am I going?" he said.
Fernandes said his immediate plan is to uplift Capital A's PN17 status and ensure that the company's subsidiaries – Teleport, Move Digital, Capital A Aviation Services Group and Capital A International – to evolve into separately listed public companies.
"My job is helping (AirAsia Aviation Group Ltd's group CEO) Bo Lingam and the team in aviation to get to three, four hundred planes and help all the CEOs of Capital A," he added.
However, Fernandes remained mum on the merger of Capital A's airline business with AirAsia X Bhd.
Both companies are expected to make an announcement on the merger by the end of the month.
Earlier this month, Capital A said in a filing to Bursa Malaysia that the two companies had agreed to extend their negotiation period to April 30.
Fernandes said 2025 will be the year when AirAsia would be better than it was in 2019.
"We hope by June, July, we'll have all our aircraft back," he said, adding that AirAsia did not discount adding China-made aircraft COMAC into its fleet of current all-Airbus planes as the budget airline expands.
The announcement of Fernandes' contract extension was made by Capital A's independent non-executive director Datuk Fam Lee Ee.
"He has set Capital A on the right strategic path for ongoing value creation and the Board (of directors) determined it is in the best interest of the shareholders to extend his tenure through the next five years.
"We're confident that under his guidance, we'll achieve even greater milestones in the years ahead," Fam said.