Indonesia AirAsia

Tiger places big bet on Indonesia with re-launch of Mandala

Tiger Airways is banking the booming Indonesian market can support another new carrier and absorb over the next 14 months at least 10 A320s from the struggling airline group’s surplus fleet. Singapore-based Tiger has not yet invested a penny into Mandala Airlines but has a lot at stake as the Indonesian carrier plans to resume services in April following a 15-month hiatus, using Tiger’s aircraft and business model. While it only had to pay a token one dollar for its 33% stake in Mandala, Tiger along with Mandala’s other new investors will be providing a loan to cover re-launch costs and will need to continue pumping in capital until the airline becomes profitable, a potentially challenging proposition given current market conditions in Indonesia.

The new Tiger-backed Mandala will compete against three powerful LCCs in the Indonesian market – Lion Air, Indonesia AirAsia and Garuda Indonesia budget unit Citilink. These carriers combined now operate about 100 aircraft and are all expanding at high double-digit rates. Mandala will also have to compete against Garuda’s fast-expanding mainline operation and three second tier Indonesian carriers – Batavia Air, Sriwijaya Air and Merpati Nusantara Airlines – which also currently operate a combined fleet of about 100 aircraft and offer low fares, although they are not generally considered to be LCCs.

Paris 2011: AirAsia’s landmark order pushes A320neo programme beyond 1,000 orders

With a landmark order for 200 A320neos, AirAsia has committed to increasing its narrowbody fleet to 375 aircraft and expects it will need at least 125 more aircraft as it works on establishing at least two more joint venture carriers. The deal, signed at the Paris Air Show on 23-Jun-2011, is the largest ever single order placed with Airbus in terms of number of aircraft. It also extends the total number of aircraft sold by Airbus this week to 730 – an all-time air show record – and even more impressively means the manufacturer has now sold over 1,000 A320neos since the programme was launched only six months ago.

Paris 2011: AirAsia eyes fleet of over 300 aircraft by 2020 with new A320neo

AirAsia is poised to place a major new order for A320 family aircraft at next week’s Paris Air Show as the low-cost airline group looks to accelerate its expansion over the next decade. The new order, which is expected to comprise at least 145 firm A320neos and include up to 335 additional aircraft when factoring in options, will cement AirAsia’s position as the region’s largest low-cost airline group and make it one of biggest airline groups in the world.