AirAsia is back to Singapore Changi Airport‘s state-of-the-art and fully-automated Terminal 4 (T4) as the facility reopens after shutting down at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020.
Last 15 September 2022, AvGeekPH.com was onboard flight AK703 (Kuala Lumpur to Singapore), the first AirAsia flight to touchdown at T4 around 0830H (GMT+8). Utilized for this historic flight (full load, by the way) was an AirAsia X Airbus A330 (9M-XXZ), with no less than Capital A CEO Tony Fernandes.
“Not only are we thrilled to be back flying, today we are just as excited to be back at T4. As our third-largest hub, Singapore is an integral market for us. From starting out with just two daily flights in 2008 we increased services significantly to 281 weekly flights pre-pandemic to meet huge demand for affordable travel in the region,” according to Fernandes during a simple ceremony and press conference held right at the Departure Level of Singapore Changi T4.
As the largest foreign airline group by capacity in Singapore, AirAsia accounts for more than one in eight of the total number of passengers through Changi Airport terminals. Pre-pandemic, the airline contributed to 51% of T4’s overall seat capacity. The return to T4 will provide opportunities for AirAsia airlines to add more services to meet strong demand and importantly, enable them to return to a full recovery to pre-COVID-19 frequency levels in the near future.
Flights to and from Singapore are currently operated by four airlines in the group; AirAsia Malaysia (AK), AirAsia Indonesia (QZ), AirAsia Thailand (FD) and AirAsia Philippines (Z2), connecting a total of 168 flights weekly to 12 destinations across Asean. This weekly frequency is currently about 60% of the airlines’ operations at T4 pre-Covid with plans to recover up to 96% against pre-pandemic by the year’s end.
Present at the press conference at Changi Airport were Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A and Bo Lingam, Group CEO of AAAGL along with Logan Velaitham, CEO of AirAsia Singapore; Riad Asmat, CEO of AirAsia Malaysia; Veranita Yosephine Sinaga, CEO of AirAsia Indonesia; Ricky Isla, CEO of AirAsia Philippines; Santisuk Klongchaiya, CEO of AirAsia Thailand; and Karen Chan, Group Chief Commercial Officer of AirAsia.
“It’s great to be back. As the first terminal at Changi Airport with an end-to-end Fast and Seamless Travel (FAST) system, the improved efficiencies align perfectly with our quest to maintain the lowest cost structure and deliver on our vision of contactless and seamless travel. It also means that we can pass the savings to our guests and generate more traffic through Changi. In 2019, we carried 4.5 million guests and operated 12 aircraft to/from Singapore and we look forward to continued expansion of our services to return to that level or even more in the future,” Lingam said.
At present, AirAsia operates a total of 168 flights weekly to 12 ASEAN destinations — around 60% of the airline’s pre-COVID-19 flying. The carrier is hopeful that they will get nearly 100% by yearend with more flights and more utilization of Airbus A330 aircraft in their fleet. AirAsia executives are optimistic that their aviation business performance will continue to improve across all key metrics as the world continues to reopen with fewer restrictions.
AirAsia also shared its appreciation with the Changi Airport Group (CAG) for working closely with them with the aim of reaching pre-pandemic levels on the airline’s core routes by or before the second quarter of 2023.
The return flight AK702 (Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) departed from Singapore T4 at around 0930H (GMT+8).
From Singapore, AirAsia Malaysia currently flies 106 flights weekly (increasing to 120 from 22 September) across seven routes, AirAsia Indonesia flies 34 flights weekly on two core routes, AirAsia Thailand flies 24 flights weekly on two routes, and AirAsia Philippines flies four flights weekly on one route. Services will continue to increase to/from Singapore in line with strong pent-up demand.