AirAsia’s Fernandes Says A350 Too Expensive

Malaysian budget long-haul airline AirAsia X may cancel or convert its order for Airbus A350s after chief executive Tony Fernandes said the aircraft is too expensive.

Fernandes said on a video posted on Facebook that “The A350 is not an aircraft we will buy.” He said it is too expensive and fares would go up.

AirAsia X has 10 A350-900s on order from Airbus, with deliveries due to start next year. The aircraft’s ticket price of USD$317.4 million appears to be too much for Fernandes, who said in February the airline is also looking at Boeing 787s and Airbus’s updated A330neo for its future fleet needs.

The long-haul LCC already has 66 A330neos on order at the slightly lower list price of $296.4 million, but AirAsia X is likely to have received significant discounts on an order of that size.