Air Transport

AirAsia is planning to establish hubs at Phuket in Thailand, Penang in Malaysia and Medan and Bandung in Indonesia to aid its expansion.

The low-cost carrier's spokesman in its Kuala Lumpur headquarters says the group is taking delivery of 14 Airbus A320s during the remainder of this year. Most will be for its Indonesian and Thai affiliate carriers, he adds.

He says as a consequence the group is planning to establish hubs at Phuket in Thailand, Penang in Malaysia and Medan and Bandung in Indonesia.

These are likely to be established this year and it means the carrier will have aircraft, pilots, cabin crew and ground staff stationed in those places, says the spokesman.

He also says it will be launching new international services from these places but he was unable to elaborate.

AirAsia currently has bases in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Jakarta as well as a hub in Denpasar Bali in Indonesia and hubs in Johor Bahru and Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia.