AirAsia to lease two aircraft from Indonesia AirAsia Extra

AirAsia Bhd has entered into a wet lease agreement with PT Indonesia AirAsia Extra (IAAX) to lease two Airbus A330 widebody aircraft for US$12.9mil (RM52.5mil).

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday, AirAsia said one aircraft would be leased from Sept 16, 2016 till March 15, 2017 for US$9.8mil (RM39.9mil).

The other’s lease would be from Oct 1, 2016 till Nov 30, 2016 for US$3.1mil (RM12.62mil), it said.

AirAsia said the leasing was due to operational requirements.

“The lease of the aircraft is in the form contained in the agreement which shall include the flight crew, all maintenance of the aircraft and insurance,” it said.

AirAsia said the agreement provided up to additional six crew sets daily to AirAsia’s manpower supply.

“Additionally, extra capacity from the A330s allows AirAsia to rationalise its network by reducing flight frequencies, which results in lesser crew requirement,” it said.

It said the additional capacity from A330s will also allow for AirAsia to overcome slot constraints in some airports as well as enable AirAsia to better manage its network.

“For routes with low load factor, AirAsia could reduce frequency, thus reducing fixed costs required to operate them. Whereas additional capacity could be added for routes with high load factor to capitalise on the high demand,” it said.