AirAsia boss Fernandes hopeful regional countries will re-open their borders from July

TheEdge Sun, Jun 14, 2020 06:20pm - 3 years View Original


KUALA LUMPUR (June 14): AirAsia Group Bhd founder Tan Sri Tony Fernandes is hopeful that countries in the region will start reopening their borders for international travel from July, starting with Singapore, Thailand, Indo-China and perhaps South Korea, Japan and China.

“It has been a tough three months. I think airlines have probably been one of the companies that suffered the most. We have not had any revenue for three months. We're now getting some sales [but] when you have 300 airplanes sitting on the ground...it has been very tough,” Fernandes said in a video post he put up on Instagram on Saturday.

“But, we are slowly coming out, [and] we're coming out confidently and fighting strong. We have Malaysia now, totally open in domestic; Thailand – totally open. Indonesia's about to start and the Philippines is also totally open and beginning to start. India is also flying. Japan is not flying yet.

“We are encouraging people to know their own country and get to know their people better, and fly their own country, while we are waiting for green channels and international to re-open, which I hope will re-open in July. We hope Singapore, Thailand, Indo-China, [and] maybe Korea, Japan and China will open up first,” he added.

In the meantime, the group is looking at cheaper ways of screening passengers and investing in data and algorithms to lessen the risk of possible infection. "We're hoping that flying will not be painful, that testing will only be for a short time and will be routine," he said.

Commenting on reports earlier this month that AirAsia was retrenching some 300 staff, Fernandes didn't confirm any numbers but said it had been a "painful" decision.

"It's a very tough time. In 18 years, we've never had to make anyone redundant. It was a painful decision that we've had to let go of some staff. It was not something I wanted to do. We fought very hard, but Covid-19 [and] the lockdown were much longer than we expected when I made my initial statements of I'm trying my best," he said, referring to his earlier statements about not laying off staff.

"Vis-a-vis other airlines, we've kept the numbers pretty limited. I can't predict the future but we're going to fight very hard so we're trying to protect whatever jobs we have left," he added.

The staff layoff, which involved 111 cabin crew members, 172 pilots and 50 engineers nationwide, was reportedly announced by AirAsia chief executive officer Riad Asmat during an internal briefing on June 4.

Meanwhile, Fernandes gave the assurance that AirAsia aircraft are safe, and that no passengers or crew members have been infected on its planes so far, despite its crew having flown to the epicentre of the outbreak in Wuhan in China, as well as Iran and Italy, to bring back stranded Malaysians.

To further ensure the safety of its crews and passengers, Fernandes said the airline is looking at ways to have everything be contactless soon – including ordering inflight meals via mobile phones.

'Be patient, we will get to your refunds'
Meanwhile, Fernandes urged the airline's customers who are seeking refunds on their air tickets to be patient, as the volume of requests the company has had to process have been "huge".

“I know many of you have been frustrated with the refunds. At least now, we are flying and you can use your credit [accounts]. We are still processing refunds and everyday there are more refunds.

"It has [been] an enormous strain on my staff because the call rate has gone up by 20 times. And it's just not humanly feasible [to handle all]. We have many people who are now helping customer services – [our] cabin crew, pilots, engineers – to clear those calls. So we ask you to be patient, we will get to your refunds. It's just a huge volume and we have to work with banks, and we have to work with travel agents," he said.

He also encouraged customers to convert their current flight bookings into a credit account. "If you can do without a refund – that you know you're going to fly within the next 12 months, and we've increased that to two years anyway [and] many ppl have taken that, 80-odd % – we thank you for that. It makes it much easier for all of us at AirAsia." 

(more to come)

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Optimus Prime
1 Like · Reply
take money from customers easy, refund is full of this and that

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