KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 30 — AirAsia Group Bhd’s shares have risen today on news that the low-cost airline’s food and beverage (F&B) arm, Santan, is expected to contribute 10 per cent to 15 per cent to the group’s revenue over the next three years.
Yesterday, its group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said the contribution from the group’s F&B brand for this year is affected by fewer flights.
“For this year, our in-flight catering only contributed about two per cent to the revenue. Since we are expanding this franchise licensing, hopefully the contribution will go up to 10-15 per cent within the next three years as we open more outlets,” he said.
Being the first brand to offer in-flight food on ground, Santan aims to set up about 100 franchise stores in Malaysia and abroad by the first quarter of 2022, in addition to the 15 stores it currently owns.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that AirAsia’s indirect 33 per cent-owned associate, AirAsia Japan Co Ltd plans to end its operations.
Quoting a Japanese newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun today, the Bloomberg article said the low-cost carrier, whose major investors include AirAsia and Rakuten, had resumed its flight operations in August, but demand remained weak due to the ongoing Covid-19 health crisis.
On Sept 18, Fernandes quashed news that AirAsia Japan will suspend all of its flights for most of October.
"I don't know where this (the news) came about, but obviously, (we do) re-value and evaluate all our operations at any one moment,” he said.
At 3pm, shares of AirAsia rose by half-a-sen to 67.5 sen, with 5.87 million shares transacted.
— Bernama
