Individual assignment # 2
Answer ALL questions
Read this newspaper article before answering the questions.
Submission date: 16 December 2015

1) AirAsia plan to be region’s biggest carrier

Budget airline AirAsia Bhd has drawn up a six-year business plan that will see it carry 70 million passengers a year from 2014, which will make it Asia’s biggest carrier. The figure is 3.5 times higher than this year’s target of 20 million passengers. Group chief executive officer Datuk Tony Fernandes is optimistic of achieving the target, which will in turn make the low-cost carrier terminal at the KL International Airport the regional hub for budget travel, given the foundation laid out over the past six years. Factors going for the airline include its extensive regional network comprising 90 routes and its huge order of 175 Airbus A320s. “Six years going forward, I think things will look rosy and optimistic. This is mainly because we have worked to build the necessary foundation for the airline, namely in terms of network and the brand, and we have already acquired the aircraft to support our growth,” Fernandes told Business Times in an interview. “With the recent inclusion of Singapore in our network, we are basically connected to all points within the region; and what we are going to do now is to further develop each of these existing routes. We are indeed in a strong position now, stronger than we have ever been,” he said. From an unknown airline which started operations in 2001 with RM40 million debt inherited from its previous owner, DRB-HICOM, AirAsia has evolved into the region’s largest budget carrier. The airline, which carried more than 15 million passengers annually in its five years of operation, has been recognised as the fastest growing low-cost carrier in history – faster than the US’ Southwest Airline and Europe’s Ryanair, which only breached