TOP for Air Asia Philippines

August 29, 2011

Kuala Lumpur - The Philippine Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) has approved Air Asia Philippines, a subsidiary of Malaysia-based Air Asia Berhad, application (Operators Permit)to fly overseas as a Philippine-based carrier.

The Temporary Operators Permit (TOP) will allow AirAsia Philippines (AAP),to start regular commercial flights out of Manila - Clark in October. The TOP will serve as the airlin's provisional authority as it seeks the issuance of a Congressional Franchise (CF) from the country's legislative body, and certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) from CAB.

AAP plans to commence flights from Manila-Clark to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, and Macau initially. They are also planning an inter-continental flight to the United States from its Clark hub for the entire AirAsia network's routes in the future. The parent company already flies to Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu from its airport base in the Philippines.

AAP Chief Executive Officer Marianne Hontiveros said their fleet is expected to expand to four Airbus A320s by June next year. Earlier, their first brand new A320 plane was delivered in August 15 with another one arriving in November and the third frame in January 2012.

The second plane is expected to ply the routes of Bangkok, and Incheon, and possible domestic flights to Kalibo, and Puerto Princesa if there is no opposition to their domestic application.

Singapore-based Tiger affiliated airline SEAIR has been encountering opposition to operated domestic points in the Philippines.

The Philippine subsidiary is the fifth member of AirAsia Group, along with AirAsia Thailand, VietJet AirAsia, AirAsia Indonesia, and AirAsia Japan.

AAP is a joint venture between parent AirAsia Berhad (40%) and local investors (60%) led by businessman Antonio “Tonyboy” Cojuangco, Romero and Hontiveros in equal shares (20%).