Tony Fernandes Open to Investors Starting AirAsia Australia

By Andrew Curran.

AirAsia co-owner Tony Fernandes says he is open to investors kick starting an AirAsia Australia brand.

“We’re beginning to franchise our airline model to investors,” he told the FACTS 2025 conference in Sydney this week. “If someone wants to license the AirAsia brand to create AirAsia Australia, we're very open (to it)… it’d be great.”

Fernandes and his partner Kamarudin Meranun acquired the then-struggling AirAsia in 2001 and have since transformed it into Southeast Asia’s dominant low-cost carrier.

Relying on seven different air operator certificates across five countries, AirAsia operates over 200 mostly narrow-body Airbus jets to over 130 airports.

Its two Malaysian airlines, Air Asia and AirAsia X, operate to four Australian airports. AirAsia flies the Kuala Lumpur (KUL) - Darwin (DRW) and Kuala Lumpur – Perth (PER) city-pairs, while its specialist long-haul brand, AirAsia X, works the Kuala Lumpur – Melbourne (MEL) and Kuala Lumpur – Sydney (SYD) routes.

AirAsia Indonesia operated a short-lived service between Adelaide (ADL) and Denpasar (DPS) earlier this year. The same carrier also ended its Cairns (CNS) – Denpasar flights in September.

None of the AirAsia carriers operate to any other airports in the Southwest Pacific. AirAsia X withdrew from New Zealand in early 2024 and talks that same year for AirAsia Indonesia to start flights to Dili (DLI) came to naught.

Franchise model the ticket to starting AirAsia Australia

“I think I have decided that we stick to ASEAN,” Fernandes told the audience in Sydney. But he says that within the assorted AirAsia companies is an entity called AirAsia Blue. Fernandes calls AirAsia Blue a “kind of hotel concept of someone else owing it (the airline) but using our brand.”

Fernandes says he has a provisional agreement in two countries to create AirAsia Blue and is close to securing a third agreement.

“They get the AirAsia brand, they get the network, they get a loyalty program, they get much cheaper planes and our expertise… if anyone is interested in setting up AirAsia Australia, we certainly would give you a massive advantage… we would love to work with someone who would like to use our brand to get a head start in the Australian market.”

An antidote to Jetstar's dominance

Jetstar, owned by the Qantas Group, dominates Australia’s low-cost aviation market. Australian Government data shows Jetstar had a 13.6% international market share in August 2025 (second only to Qantas) and a 27.4% domestic market share.

Aside from the two AirAsia carriers, foreign low-cost airlines serving the Australian market include Cebu Pacific Air, Indonesia AirAsia, Scoot, t’way Air and Vietjet. These foreign low-cost carriers had a 20.6% international market share in August.

Excluding Jetstar, there are no other Australian low-cost carriers following the collapse of Bonza in 2024, although Virgin Australia, which styles itself as a mid-market carrier, is increasingly venturing into the low-cost carrier space.

Photo: AirAsia.