MANILA -- AirAsia Philippines' new major shareholder, F&S Holdings, Inc. owner Michael Romero, considers 2019 as a good year for the airline, and thinks its good performance and profit would be maintained throughout the year.
"The first quarter was very good and profitable for AirAsia Philippines. We had PHP7 billion revenue for the first quarter alone. Our load capacity is about 91 percent," Romero told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Monday afternoon.
He added that the carrier targets 8 to 9 million passengers this year, and projects PHP30 billion revenues for 2019.
The carrier's executives said additional fleets are underway, and that the target of 8 million passengers is supposed to triple in three years.
In 2017, AirAsia Philippines had around 7 million passengers.
"(Air travel) is a booming industry. We all need new aircraft," remarked AirAsia Philippines chair, Maan Hontiveros, adding that they are looking at other routes and slots at other domestic airport since they could not just rely in Manila.
"We are looking at secondary airports such as Cebu, Bacolod. There are many exciting places in the Philippines to go to," she said.
Hontiveros said AirAsia Philippines is continuously looking at unique routes that it can develop, adding that 80 percent of the AirAsia Group's routes is unique.
Major shareholder
Meanwhile, AirAsia Philippines announced on Monday that F&S Holdings, Inc., which is owned by Romero and his wife, Sheila, acquired an additional 28.8 percent shares of AirAsia, Inc. (AAI). The couple used to have 15.7 percent shares. F&S Holdings, Inc. now has a total of 44.5 percent shares, making the couple the major shareholders in AAI.
"My family has been in this business since 2010. We just expanded our share," Romero told the PNA.
The couple bought the shares from Hontiveros (15.8 percent) and Fred Yao (13 percent).
Forty percent of the AAI shares is still held by AirAsia Berhad founders, Tony Fernandes and Kamarudin Menardum. The remaining 15.7 percent shares belongs to Tonyboy Cojuangco's TNR Holdings. (PNA)
