AirAsia is planning to establish a joint venture in the Philippines as early as next year, and its partner is reportedly Antonio Cojuangco.
Reports in the Philippines, quoting Philippine Board of Investments head Cristino Panlilio, say AirAsia plans to create the joint venture in the first quarter of 2011 with Cojuangco, the cousin of Philippine President Benigno Aquino. Cojuangco is also the former chairman of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company and owns local pay-TV company Dream.
Panlilio says AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes told him the news a few weeks ago. But when contacted by Aviation Week yesterday, Fernandes neither confirmed nor denied he is forming a local carrier in partnership with Cojuangco.
An AirAsia spokesman says the talks with potential partners in the Philippines are still at a “preliminary stage and confidential.”
AirAsia is based in Kuala Lumpur but has affiliate carriers in Bangkok and Jakarta and is setting up an affiliate airline in Vietnam. Fernandes has stated publicly on several occasions that he also wants to have a presence in the Philippines, but he has never discussed publicly who his local partner may be.
The Philippines has a large domestic air travel market that is controlled largely by Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific, carriers that are owned by Filipino families with strong political connections.
AirAsia’s rival Tiger Airways recently announced it had placed two Airbus A320-family aircraft with small Filipino carrier Seair, which is now marketing the flights through the Tiger Airways website.
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