Dear stakeholders,

As paradoxical as it may seem, the year 2023 - with all its challenges - stands out as the year we are most proud of since the start of AirAsia and, now, Capital A. While much of the world carried on with a semblance of normalcy, for airlines with a focus on Asia, it marked a pivotal year in which international borders finally fully re-opened, catapulting us into the colossal task of building up our aviation businesses once again. In all sincerity, the endeavour proved to be much more daunting than when we started from scratch 22 years ago. Just reviving a single aircraft demands 40 worker hours; compound this by a factor of 41, which is the number of aircraft we eventually brought out of hibernation. What's more, aircraft maintenance facilities in the region were severely restricted with high demand and supply chain bottlenecks everywhere. Beyond mere mechanical revival, we also had to bring in people, re-establish routes and jostle for limited airport slots amid a burgeoning and competitive landscape.

Yet… we made it. What's more, unlike many airlines across East Asia, Europe and Australia, we survived with zero state support except for one RM300 million loan (USD63 million) from a development bank in Sabah. While getting the airlines off the ground, the team also worked extremely hard on building all our non-AirAsia businesses, laying solid foundations for future growth. Thanks to everyone's commitment, we are today a low-cost, high-quality holistic aviation and travel services group made up of value-creating companies in aviation (AirAsia Group), aviation services (Capital A Aviation Services), logistics (Teleport) and branding/intellectual property (Capital A International) with our own travel platform (MOVE Digital, formerly airasia Digital) and venture capital arm (RedBeat Capital).

Datuk Kamarudin Bin Meranun
Tan Sri Tony Fernandes