KUALA LUMPUR (March 26): AirAsia Group Bhd and AirAsia X Bhd (AAX) said they will temporarily ground most planes across their network, in view of the deepening Covid-19 outbreak that has led to extensive and increasing cross-border restrictions.
AirAsia Group's brass and senior employees also volunteered to take a pay cut by as much as 100% at the top to 15% for those below.
“This will help ensure that we can ride out this prolonged period of extremely low travel demand and at the same time, minimise the impact on our employees, especially those in junior positions,” it said in a statement today.
AirAsia said it will temporarily suspend all domestic and international flights from Malaysia from March 28 to April 21.
AAX, meanwhile, is suspending most of its international flights from March 28 to May 31.
Temporary suspension for domestic and international flights also involves AirAsia Philippines, Thai AirAsia, AirAsia Indonesia and AirAsia India. AirAsia X Thailand is temporarily suspending all international flights as well.
“We believe this temporary fleet hibernation is the right thing to do, to ensure the well-being of our guests and employees, which will remain as the top priority of our business during this challenging time," AirAsia said.
“We will continue to evaluate the situation closely and we are prepared to reinstate our services as soon as the situation improves, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals,” it said.
AirAsia Group said all affected passengers are being immediately notified by email and SMS.
"They have the option of converting their flight booking into a credit account that is valid for future redemption for 365 days, or moving their flights for an unlimited number of times without any charges to another date prior to Oct 31," it added.
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