AirAsia X rises 5.33% on Airbus purchase

AirAsia X Bhd’s share price rose as much as 5.33% to 37.5 sen on early trade after the airline confirmed its order of 100 Airbus A330neo widebody aircraft.

At 12.01 pm, the stock was trading at 37.5 sen with 31.62 million shares done.

Yesterday, AirAsia Group CEO and AirAsia X co-group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said that the group was in discussions with Airbus for two years and was looking to cancel the order before reaffirming and increasing the order, after reviewing AirAsia X’s model over the last one year.

“We got close with Boeing, they ran a good campaign. It was a close fight. Until a week ago, I didn’t really know which way we were swinging … but I’m confident we chose the right plane for us,” he said.

The order for the 100 aircraft is worth US$30 billion (RM121.8 billion) at list prices.

Fernandes said funding sources for the order include sale and leaseback, leasing capital and debt capital but he declined to reveal the contract value of the order.