Aviation AirAsia raises $226m but stays quiet on PIF By Pramod Kumar March 10, 2025, 11:11 AM AirAsia/X Riyadh Air has acquired a substantial number of delivery slots from AirAsia’s backlog of 350 narrowbody aircraft booked with Airbus The parent company of Malaysian budget airline AirAsia has raised 1 billion ringgit ($226 million) to complete its reorganisation plan, according to a news report. “We have a 1 billion (ringgit) placement,” Capital A group CEO Tony Fernandes said at a press conference. “Don’t ask me questions on PIF’s placement order book – we are not going to talk about it okay, because we can’t,” he told The Edge Malaysia, a financial daily, on Monday. The kingdom’s $925 billion sovereign wealth fund will be the largest investor in AirAsia’s 1-billion-ringgit ($226 million) fundraising round, investing $100 million, Bloomberg reported citing informed sources. Other potential investors are from Singapore and Japan. AirAsia is offering 15 percent at a valuation of $2 billion, the news agency said. The Malaysian bourse has classified its parent Capital A as “financially distressed” since the Covid-19 pandemic. PIF-owned Riyadh Air has acquired a substantial number of delivery slots from AirAsia’s backlog of 350 narrowbody aircraft booked with Europe’s Airbus. PIF weighs investment in Boeing’s Italian parts maker Riyadh Air in talks to buy 50 more widebody aircraft SalamAir to expand fleet as budget travel demand rises In February, Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas told a Saudi investment conference in Miami that the airline would start operations “by the end of the year”. The airline has ordered 72 twin-aisle Boeing 787s and 60 single-aisle Airbus A321neos. PIF owns AviLease, an aircraft leasing company, Helicopter Company, and Saudia Technic, a maintenance, repair and overhaul company. It also holds a 15 percent stake in London’s Heathrow Airport.
