Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia Group Bhd is not looking to switch aircraft suppliers despite cancelling orders from Airbus last month, its CEO, Tony Fernandes, has said.
Fernandes initially declined to comment when asked on a panel at the Reuters Next conference if the airline he founded will switch to Boeing, but then said that the airline and Airbus "love each other".
"We love each other. Between us and Airbus, we've lots of ups and downs like any relationship, but we're joined at the hip," he said.
Airbus said last week that it had cancelled a deal with AirAsia Group's long-haul affiliate AirAsia X, including for 10 A350 wide-body jets worth $3.2 billion at list prices. It still has more than 108 other orders from the financially troubled carrier.
AirAsia Group, together with AirAsia X, is one of Airbus's largest customers and also purchases exclusively from them.
Debt Restructuring Scheme
Last month, Airbus challenged AirAsia X's debt restructuring scheme, saying that it stands to lose more than $5 billion worth of orders if the scheme goes through.
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