ISTANBUL—AirAsia plans to begin flights through its new Cambodian air operator’s certificate (AOC) by the end of 2023, subject to securing the two Airbus A320s that will initially operate from the capital Phnom Penh.

Dilhan Haradasa, AirAsia Group head of network and regulatory affairs, spoke about Cambodia operation plans on the sidelines of the Routes World conference. “We’ll be starting in Phnom Penh, but we hope to grow Sihanoukville and Siam Reap as well. It will be ASEAN region, and we will be concentrating on domestic as well,” he said.

Speaking about regional trends during an earlier panel discussion, Haradasa said, “I think India’s going to be the new global dominant aviation player coming up in the next five years. This year has changed a lot. India has become a growth market for Southeast Asia. We’ve also seen connecting markets, east connectivity contributing to our growth.”

In India and Australia, AirAsia is continuing to look at opportunities to expand routes to secondary airports that stand outside bilateral agreements. “We will continue to look at secondary ports that are outside the bilateral, which are allowable,” Haradasa said. “That’s the only way we can grow at the moment, so we’ll continue to explore that. China hasn’t bounced back as we expected so we’ll have to continue to look at India as a growth market.” 

AirAsia is also looking for growth to secondary Australian airports—in particular, from Indonesia. “That doesn’t mean we don’t fly from Malaysia either,” he said. “But we want to try to minimize ultra-long-haul narrowbody flying because of the fuel issue.” 

Haradasa said increased airport charges were an issue. “Especially in a low-cost market model, it’s becoming quite expensive. Now we have to be a lot more careful in our route selection,” Haradasa said. “Private airlines were not safeguarded during the pandemic. It’s very important we protect our cashflows.”