Malaysia’s AirAsia Group has officially announced it will shut operations in Japan.
“The company wishes to announce that it has today been notified of the decision taken by the board of directors of AirAsia Japan to cease its operations with immediate effect,” AirAsia Group says today in a Bursa Malaysia disclosure.
“We respect and have agreed to the decision made by AAJ as this would reduce the cash burn of AAJ and the company amid the highly challenging operating conditions in Japan which have been aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic that has plagued the world since early this year.”
The company states that it will make further disclosures as necessary in due course.
Local media reports of AirAsia Japan’s impending closure emerged last week, which said that the Nagoya-headquartered budget airline had reportedly informed the government of Aichi prefecture of its intention.
Nagoya is the capital of Japan’s Aichi prefecture. AirAsia Japan is based at Nagoya Chubu Centrair International airport.
Cirium data show that AirAsia Group owns 48.9% of the joint venture carrier, while e-commerce giant Rakuten and Octave Japan Infrastructure Fund are among AirAsia Japan’s four other shareholders.
According to Cirium fleets data, AirAsia Japan’s fleet comprises three Airbus A320ceos, of which only one is in service. One of the three is managed by lessor Castlelake and the other two by SMBC Aviation Capital.
