AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes has posted a video on Facebook to provide an update on the ticket refund situation at AirAsia. He shared that 1.5 million people have been refunded since Jan 2020 and there 450,000 outstanding refunds that are still being processed.
The low-cost airline CEO said AirAsia is committed to refund the remaining 450,000 people who have yet to be paid back. He said every week, the airline is clearing the refunds with every little cash they have and he’s confident everyone will be refunded.
Tony also thanked the 2.9 million people that have accepted the refunds in the form of a credit shell. He said that’s the best support that anyone can give him and his airline, and he will be forever be grateful.
He said AirAsia has carried 600 million people and created hundreds of thousands of jobs. He said “COVID-19 is not our fault, we are not bad people. It has obviously affected us badly like many other airlines but we are still trying to do our best to keep as many of our staff.”
Tony shared that 10% of their staff have to let go and many of their staff are on less pay. This was done to try to keep the airline alive so that they can come back strong.
Meanwhile, Tony also said that AirAsia X is currently in a very deep financial difficulty because it couldn’t fly anywhere and it has to deal with unfair competition. The long-haul low-cost carrier is going through a corporate restructuring to survive. He also said that AirAsia X is separate and they are also committed to paying everyone back, and it will come back strongly.