Low-cost long-haul carrier AirAsia X has replaced chief executive Asran Osman-Rani and will raise 395 million ringgit ($140 million) to shore up its balance sheet as a result of deep financial losses, including on flights between Kuala Lumpur and Australia.
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AirAsia X, which competes for budget traffic between Australia and Asia against Jetstar International and Scoot, lost $96 million in the Australian market in the nine months to September 30, 2014. It has yet to report its December quarter results.
The airline on Friday said a new management team would spearhead a "reorganisational and turnaround exercise" that would strengthen the company's balance sheet and maximise profitability.
Datuk Kamarudin Bin Meranun, the co-founder of Tune Group alongside entrepreneur Tony Fernandes, will serve as the group chief executive overseeing AirAsia X and its Indonesian and Thai long-haul offshoots. Benyamin Bin Ismail, until now the head of corporate development and investor relations head at short-haul carrier AirAsia, will serve as the acting chief executive of AirAsia X. Mr Osman-Rani left the company on Friday.
The airline had been in financial difficulties for months, amid reports it was paying wages and allowances to staff on a staggered basis. AirAsia X had in November said it would cut some of its flights to and from Australia to help improve its financial results. In December, the airline withdrew entirely from the Adelaide-Kuala Lumpur route little more than a year after Mr Osman-Rani had personally launched it to great fanfare.
AirAsia X also controls a stake in Indonesia AirAsia Extra, which had been due to launch direct flights between Melbourne and Bali on Boxing Day but was forced to instead route angry passengers via Kuala Lumpur after failing to receive timely approvals from Australian authorities.
As of the latest government statistics from October, AirAsia X was the fifth-largest foreign carrier to and from Australia with a 4.4 per cent share of international passengers behind only Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand and Cathay Pacific. The airline, which operates a fleet of A330 aircraft, uses Kuala Lumpur as a hub to transfer Australian passengers to destinations throughout Asia.
