AirAsia to sell 11 aircraft worth US$271 million, says Tony Fernandes

AirAsia Bhd will sell 11 aircraft worth US$271 million, says Group Chief Executive Officer, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said today.

"There is some blessing in weaker currencies. Our ownership of aircraft is now paying off. We (are) selling 11 aircraft and leasing them back," he said on Twitter, the micro-blogging site.

He said gross proceeds from the sale would amount to US$271 million while profits would accrue to US$45 million). "Its a good piece of business," he said.

Airasia has 150 aircraft worth US$2 billion.

The aviation mogul also quashed talks that the airline was looking to raise equity.

"There is talk we are looking to raise equity. Completely wrong. At our share price why would we? Plus, we don't need cash. Cash is very strong with operational cash being very positive," he twitted.

Recently, AirAsia announced that it was reducing its stake in an online travel, agency AAE Travel Pte Ltd (AAE), from 50 per cent to 25 per cent.

It sold the 25 per cent shares to Expedia Inc for US$86.25 million (about RM318.75 million), gaining US$78.76 million (RM291 million) from the disposal.

Fernandes also said AirAsia's share price was the most undervalued share of all airlines in the world of matured airlines.

At 10.04am, AirAsia's share price was flat at RM2.23.