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The delays during the festive season were due to shortage of spare aircrafts, which resulted in the company having to use all its available fleet to accommodate the surge in demand.
Capital A Bhd (AirAsia) group CEO Tony Fernandes said that this year’s Aidilfitri celebrations saw a significant increase in demand for air travel as Malaysians returned to their hometowns.
“Our on-time performance is 92% today because we have spare planes. But during Aidilfitri, we tried to put everyone on the flight, and we had no spare planes. Everyone wanted to go home after two years of being locked down. So, we used every single plane,” he said.
“It is always easy to criticise, but this Aidilfitri was unique — we just came out of the Covid-19 pandemic. And we made a decision: Let’s get everyone home.
“Although there will be a risk of delay, at least we get people home at the lowest fare. But I’m proud that seven out of 10 people got home because of AirAsia,” he said during a meeting with AirAsia Ride’s top performing drivers in SetiaWalk Mall, Puchong, Selangor, yesterday.