AirAsia says has paid back almost all passengers

KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 — AirAsia Aviation Group Limited (AAAGL), the aviation arm of Capital A group said they have already finalised over 99 per cent of all customer queries and will work towards progressively settling the final 0.8 per cent in the coming months.

AirAsia X (AAX) and Thai AirAsia X (TAAX) also have firm plans in place to compensate all guests affected by the unprecedented flight disruptions over the past two years due to Covid-19, within the coming months.

“AirAsia airlines have already paid back nearly everyone. AirAsia has opened the world to so many people and the majority of our guests decided to take a credit shell to help us which we thank them for.

“Now that travel restrictions have been removed substantially in our major markets, we saw that many of our guests have already utilised their credit shells to start travelling again,” said Capital A Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said in a statement today.

Meanwhile, AirAsia X CEO Benyamin Ismail said they understand guests’ frustrations and will ensure they get back what they paid for future use, in the form of full credits for such amounts paid, by way of travel vouchers.

“Under the terms of the scheme of arrangement that was sanctioned by the High Court further to our recent debt restructuring, we are legally restricted from making any cash refunds to our guests. However, AAX is pleased to extend credits by way of travel vouchers to our guests, which are redeemable with immediate effect. These travel vouchers are valid for five years and may be used for future travel to any of our medium to long haul destinations which will continue to be increased and made available throughout this year and beyond.

“To date, the majority of all affected guests have received their travel vouchers (totalling over 155,000 guests) and we aim to complete the issuance of all remaining travel vouchers within the coming weeks,” he said.

AirAsia and its subsidiary AirAsia X (AAX), both owned by Capital A Berhad, grounded thousands of flights in 2020 and 2021 after the Malaysian government shut state and international borders to curb the spread of Covid-19.

But months after the low-cost carrier resumed flights following the lifting of interstate and international border restrictions for Malaysians in October, hundreds of customers had taken to social media to complain of poor customer service and long waits for refunds.