KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 — AirAsia Aviation Group’s medium haul affiliate airline, AirAsia X Bhd (AAX), said it has no immediate plan to find a successor to Tan Sri Tony Fernandes as the airline’s management and board will oversee its operations.

On Oct 31, the airline group announced that Fernandes is stepping down from his position as the acting group chief executive officer (CEO) of AXX due to other commitments.

Newly-appointed AAX chairman Tunku Datuk Mahmood Fawzy said the airline is looking at the possibility of running the business through a management committee (MC) and supervisory board that involves non-executives who are more independent.

He also expressed confidence in AirAsia X Malaysia CEO Benyamin Ismail and the current management team to navigate the business without a group CEO.

"If we have a management board, we put an MC in place which is accountable to the board and a supervisory board that oversees (the operation)... we will look at how that relationship will work.

"Right now, it’s a very different relationship as we grow and we need to evolve,” he told reporters here, today.

Tunku Mahmood applauded Fernandes for his enormous contribution to AAX’s growth — turning the ailing airline group to a better position after the restructuring, thus providing it a solid base to start operating profitably in the near future.

He said Fernandes’ resignation should not be seen as a negative influence on AAX’s prospects and market confidence, and assured that Fernandes is still around monitoring the airline’s development as the chief executive of Capital A Bhd, which is the holding company of AirAsia Aviation Group.

"He’s still there. He’s a shareholder. He has not walked away. I can always turn to Tony to help me out here,” Tunku Mahmood added.

Fernandes was appointed as the acting group CEO in addition to his position as a non-independent non-executive director of AAX in July this year. — Bernama