AirAsia eyes bringing ground handling service to Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — The airline group of Capital A, formerly known as the AirAsia Group, is eyeing to bring its ground handling service business to the Philippines this year, as the recovery of the country’s aviation sector continues to pick up.

AirAsia Aviation Group Ltd. operates a ground handling services business in Malaysia called GTR, a joint venture with SATS Ltd. of Singapore.

AirAsia Aviation Group chief executive officer Bo Lingam said the company is in the middle of talks for the introduction of GTR in the Philippines.

“We should be able to finalize it by the middle of 2022,” Lingam said.

Ground handling operations are expected to ramp up to meet the aviation industry’s  growing demand. In the country, airports are becoming busier as airlines increase flights with the reopening of more destinations and easing of travel restrictions.

Capital A chief executive officer Tony Fernandes said his group’s prediction is by the fourth quarter, “things will be the way they were pre-COVID.”

“We’re hoping that as more and more countries open up, international travel will get back into action,” he said.

As such, Fernandes said GTR would soon be providing ground handling services not only in Malaysia, but for the rest of  the ASEAN.

“On GTR, we’re just about to establish our second joint venture in Thailand, with soon in Indonesia, Philippines, Macau, Vietnam coming,” Fernandes said.

“GTR also by the way is handling companies, airlines outside of the AirAsia Group. It has won many airline contracts outside AirAsia,” he said.

AirAsia Aviation Group is composed of five airlines in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and India.

Aside from the airlines, it also oversees related international support functions, including AirAsia Consulting, shared corporate services division AirAsia SEA, the Santan food group, and the ground handling services business GTR.

Lingam said the future growth of the aviation group is expected to come from new ventures, partnerships, geographies and adjacent businesses, expanding the aviation group’s broader ecosystem.

“In many ways, we’re reborn. It’s a new beginning. We’re very excited on Malaysia and Thailand, and particularly excited about the Philippines and Indonesia where we think in some ways COVID has given us a second chance to go out there and really capture a huge market share, which we’re tremendously excited about,” Fernandes said.