Stock exchange Bursa Malaysia has approved Capital A's regularisation plan, paving the way for it to exit PN17 status and spin off its various AirAsia-branded airline assets. Capital A confirmed the approval in a regulatory filing on March 7, 2025, and during a March 10 media briefing, its CEO Tony Fernandes called the approval a "very big step [towards] setting up AirAsia Group" and outlined his future plans.

Capital A and other investment vehicles linked with Fernandes and his business partner Kamarudin Meranun own controlling stakes in AirAsia, AirAsia X, and Thai AirAsia X. They also have stakes in and manage the operations of Thai AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia X, Philippines AirAsia, and AirAsia Cambodia via the entity AirAsia Aviation Group, which is under the control of Capital A.

Fernandes will now call an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to approve the regularisation plan. The company will then head to Malaysia's High Court to approve the proposed capital reduction plan. With that done, Fernandes says he hopes Capital A will exit PN17 status in late May.

Bursa Malaysia issues a Practice Note 17 (PN17) to companies it considers to be in financial distress. Among other things, it requires them to submit a regularisation plan to maintain listing status. The stock exchange slapped Capital A with a PN17 in January 2022.

Once lifted, Capital A will consolidate its various airline interests. "AirAsia X will be buying AirAsia from Capital A," said Fernandes. "Capital A will still own 18% of AirAsia X, which will own AirAsia X and AirAsia X Thailand." The consolidation repackages rather than reduces Fernandes' control over his airline interests.

The disposal of Capital A's aviation interests is subject to four conditions, specifically consent from bankers and lenders, which Fernandes says should be in place by the end of the week; approval from the Stock Exchange of Thailand, which Fernandes thinks will also happen "in the next week or two"; completion of a MYR1 billion ringgit (USD226 million) placement, which Fernandes said is done; and the transfer and issuance of shares.

Initially, AirAsia Berhad, operator of AirAsia, and AirAsia Aviation Group, which runs the other short-haul AirAsia carriers, will fall under the control of AirAsia X. "As soon as this is complete, we will merge AirAsia X and AirAsia into one airline, because now we have the right aircraft with the A321-200NX(LR) and A321-200NY(XLR)," Fernandes said. "We don't need two separate airlines anymore - we can just be the one AirAsia."

"By the end of April or beginning of May, we should have two companies - Capital A and AirAsia Group," he said.

Parked aircraft off the ground

Outlining future plans and signalling ongoing involvement in his aviation interests, Fernandes says that in the immediate term, Capital A is working to get its 16 parked aircraft back in the air. He says all the groundings are related to supply chain issues with General Electric engines. "I hope we can get all 16 aircraft back in the air by May or June," he said.

"We will now start using aircraft for the right areas," said Fernandes. "With the neos, we can fly for about six hours. With the long-range aircraft, we can fly for about seven or eight hours, and with the XLRs we can do ten hours."

"Most of our flying will be done with narrowbodies, and we will use the A330s to go to Europe and North America," he added. "That's what we are planning at the moment, and most of this will be done by 2026. The only continent AirAsia would not be in by the end of 2026 is South America. Our aim is to build Kuala Lumpur International Airport as another Dubai, for low-cost carriers."

He concluded: "We've just opened lots of routes, but this year is about maximising the network. What does that mean? We'd rather go to Kota Kinabalu twenty-two times a day than a destination once daily. Over the last two years, we just took routes - now we're optimising them."