Wednesday, September 1, 2010

AirAsia defers delivery of A320s

05 August 2010

PETALING JAYA: AirAsia Bhd has deferred the delivery of seven Airbus A320 to 2015 from the original delivery period next year as it foresees infrastructural constraints with the current airport facilities.

The low-cost carrier in a filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday said it had signed an amendment agreement with Airbus SAS for the revision of delivery dates.

The seven planes are now due for delivery from April to November 2015 from the original March to October 2011.

“With the deferment, the delivery of aircraft in 2011 shall be reduced to eight planes from the original 15. Also, the number of aircraft delivery in 2015 will increase to nine from the planned two,” it said.

AirAsia said until the new low-cost carrier terminal was constructed, the present infrastructure at the terminal would not be able to accommodate AirAsia’s fleet expansion in the number of aircraft originally scheduled to be delivered in 2010 and 2011.

“The rationale to further scale down on the delivery of aircraft in 2011 is to enable AirAsia to optimise its fleet and avoid the costs associated with leaving idle or underutilised aircraft due to infrastructural limitations – avoiding having to incur depreciation, interest expense and other costs without earning revenue,” it said.

The Star

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