AirAsia Eyes Huge Aircraft Order

AirAsia, a major player in the industry, is currently eyeing up a prospective new aircraft order that would see it commit to upwards of 100 units.

As confirmed in an article published by Aviation Week following comments from the Group’s CEO, regional jets are on the cards, with Airbus, Embraer and COMAC being available options.

This order spells good news for the latter two planemakers who, if they could secure such a deal, especially Embraer, would substantially increase their backlog and respond to some critics over the performance of the regional jets.

Meanwhile, for COMAC, it would allow them to flex their muscles as a legitimate planemaker that’d be able to, arguably for the first time on a major scale, have a presence outside of state-owned Chinese carriers that have committed to its planes.

However, many onlookers argue that it’ll be a hard task for the planemaker’s above to turn the head of AirAsia, who remains an all-Airbus operator and has relied so heavily on the A320 family for so long.

The AirAsia Group has some 252 aircraft and is spread across several airlines such as AirAsia X, Thai AirAsia, Philippines AirAsia, and many others. The fleet focuses strictly on Airbus-produced planes, with some A330s but predominantly A320 family aircraft.

While 252 are listed, the amount of active units is far less than this, sitting more at around the 181 mark, with the view to growing this by the end of 2024 and hopefully by the end of 2025 above 230.

A move towards regional aircraft would offer great flexibility to the Group and established airlines in this region. However, it would present a new aircraft type that’d be introduced and the possibility for a new planemaker to join the fleet composition.

Primarily, the appeal for regional aircraft comes from AirAsia’s desire to reach more markets and focus on secondary airports moving forward, which have fantastic market demand but may not require some of their larger aircraft.

AirAsia wouldn’t be the first airline in the region to adopt this type of strategy as traffic continues to grow and the need to serve some smaller destinations becomes a higher requirement. Therefore, being equipped with the right aircraft is essential to achieve this.

Boeing Missing From AirAsia Consideration

While three manufacturers are up for contention, Boeing is notably missing. Prospective orders such as these certainly highlight the lack of options that the American manufacturer has, and this wouldn’t be the only market segment in which it feels similar.

Boeing has struggled over the last decade and failed to offer a plane in the regional sector. After failed attempts to consolidate with Embraer, it will continue missing out on such opportunities.