KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 13): AirAsia has announced plans to fully reactivate its 204 aircraft, supported by a refreshed agreement with its long-term partner and engine provider, CFM International.

In a statement on Wednesday, the low-cost airline said CFM’s focus on improving fleet stability on-site and around-the-clock virtual monitoring of AirAsia’s LEAP-1A engine operation had provided a crucial catalyst for the carrier to reinstate its full fleet.

AirAsia said it looks forward to capitalise on this achievement, as it reinstates its fleet and expand to above 300 aircraft in the next five years, continuing to connect people across Asean and beyond, with "affordable and best-value travel options".

Parent company Capital A Bhd's chief executive officer Tony Fernandes said the airline had made enormous strides in bringing back its planes and restarting operations, balancing a mismatch of the cost of 204 planes and the revenue from flying an average of 143 planes this year.

“CFM’s fleet stability support brings a vital catalyst for us to return to full activation. I am proud of Asia Digital Engineering (ADE), our own engineering facility, and want to thank each and every one of our engineers for not only handling day-to-day work, but also focusing on the group’s aircraft reactivation work.

“We look forward to the fourth-quarter results, when we are going to see the real performance of AirAsia with the full fleet,” he said.

Meanwhile, CFM president and CEO Gael Meheust said AirAsia had been a valuable customer for nearly two decades, and the company is delighted to support the carrier and its plans to fully reactivate its fleet.

“We take AirAsia’s trust as a great responsibility to keep supporting its fleet with high-level CFM standards,” he added.

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