Air Asia Just Collapsed... It's Worse Than You Think!
Beyond Economics
19,220 views
AirAsia has stopped flying to eighty-one destinations.
Not trimmed. Stopped. Eighty-one places across Asia that had a cheap flight last year and do not have one now — cut out of the map by the airline that put most of Southeast Asia in the air in the first place. Third-quarter capacity is down twenty to twenty-five percent on last year. A fifth of its own flying, deliberately grounded.
Airlines do not do that when flying makes money.
Here is the rest of the year. The share price is down close to seventy percent. The stock closed recently at fifty-three sen — the company that invented low-cost flying in Asia now worth about 1.78 billion ringgit, under half a billion dollars. Last quarter it lost 527.2 million ringgit. And on its own balance sheet it reported 3.87 billion ringgit of assets due within twelve months, against 18.41 billion ringgit of bills falling due in the same window.
Three point eight seven against eighteen point four one.
Its founder, Tony Fernandes, says the company does not need a rescue, a bailout, or whatever, and that there have been no discussions with the government. Meanwhile Malaysia's government has reportedly been asking Malaysia Airlines and Batik Air whether they could absorb AirAsia's domestic routes and passengers if necessary.
Both of those things cannot be equally true, and the gap between them is where this story lives.
By the end of this video you will understand exactly which number broke first, why this is happening to the cheap airlines and almost none of the expensive ones, and — if the money does run out — precisely who gets stuck with the bill. It is not who you think, and some of them are holding a boarding pass right now.
20 Comments
If AA collapsed so be it. They are still billionaires.
Acquired in 2025 by Sarawak State and rebrand as AIRBORNEO, my current employer.
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Even using the wheelchair, they charge RM50 for only a few hours.
Jack up the debts, then declare bankrupt but keep the money. Business tactics of the billionaires.
Air Asia Just Collapsed... It's Worse Than You Think!
Beyond Economics
19,220 views
AirAsia has stopped flying to eighty-one destinations.
Not trimmed. Stopped. Eighty-one places across Asia that had a cheap flight last year and do not have one now — cut out of the map by the airline that put most of Southeast Asia in the air in the first place. Third-quarter capacity is down twenty to twenty-five percent on last year. A fifth of its own flying, deliberately grounded.
Airlines do not do that when flying makes money.
Here is the rest of the year. The share price is down close to seventy percent. The stock closed recently at fifty-three sen — the company that invented low-cost flying in Asia now worth about 1.78 billion ringgit, under half a billion dollars. Last quarter it lost 527.2 million ringgit. And on its own balance sheet it reported 3.87 billion ringgit of assets due within twelve months, against 18.41 billion ringgit of bills falling due in the same window.
Three point eight seven against eighteen point four one.
Its founder, Tony Fernandes, says the company does not need a rescue, a bailout, or whatever, and that there have been no discussions with the government. Meanwhile Malaysia's government has reportedly been asking Malaysia Airlines and Batik Air whether they could absorb AirAsia's domestic routes and passengers if necessary.
Both of those things cannot be equally true, and the gap between them is where this story lives.
By the end of this video you will understand exactly which number broke first, why this is happening to the cheap airlines and almost none of the expensive ones, and — if the money does run out — precisely who gets stuck with the bill. It is not who you think, and some of them are holding a boarding pass right now.