The airline group also confirms it has cancelled its order for 15 Airbus A330-900s.
AirAsia Group expects to remove up to 12 of its oldest Airbus A320s from its fleet this year, as part of wider fleet renewal efforts that will also see more A321LRs being delivered in 2027.
Group chief Bo Lingam, speaking on 22 June, says the low-cost airline group will prioritise the phase-out from its units in the Philippines and Indonesia, which have some of the oldest A320s in the group.
AirAsia Group also has units in Malaysia, where it is headquartered, as well as in Thailand and Cambodia.
Lingam adds that the Philippines and Indonesia units will first take mid-life A320s and A320neos from other AirAsia units in the interim, before receiving new A220s from end-2027.
AirAsia Group placed a record order for 150 A220-300s in May this year, in a deal valued at around $19 billion.
“I will be moving some of the A320s which are [about 12 years old] over [to Philippines and Indonesia AirAsia], and eventually they will be replaced by the A220 because the A220 has got a good range, so [the two carriers] will have a mix of A321 and A220 fleet,” says Lingam, who hopes to complete the fleet renewal exercise by early 2028.
The group is also set to receive seven A321LRs in 2027, adding to the pair it has already received. The A321LRs will gradually be deployed on medium-haul routes such as Kuala Lumpur-Busan and Incheon, says Lingam. He does not disclose any further details.
Lingam also confirms that AirAsia’s outstanding order for 15 A330-900s has been cancelled, with the group “substituting it” for the A321XLRs, having found the latter “more efficient” for its operations.
As for its existing A330-300s – operated by AirAsia X – Lingam says they will “be still using it” to launch flights to Bahrain and London in August. Eventually, the A330s will exit the fleet, with the A321XLRs replacing them from 2030.
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