AirAsia plans $300m IPO for Indonesian arm in 2016: CEO Tony Fernandes

Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia is planning an initial public offering (IPO) for its Indonesian affiliate, whose flight QZ8501 crashed in stormy weather last December killing all 162 on board.

AirAsia proposes to float its Indonesian affiliate in the first half of 2016 to raise some $300m (£200m, €279m), according to group CEO Tony Fernandes.

AirAsia plans to sell a 30% stake in the Indonesian carrier, Tony Fernandes told Reuters on 20 April, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Jakarta.

Skymark bid

Air Asia has probably "lost" the bid to take over bankrupt Japanese low-cost carrier Skymark Airlines, Fernandes told CNBC earlier.

But the carrier still plans to launch its own routes to Japan and is "on schedule to start early next year", he added.

Fernandes said: "We were really interested in Skymark, but I don't think it's going to happen. We had a look at it, but I think we lost that.... it's complicated, so we don't think our suggestion is going to go through."

Skymark, Japan's leading low-cost carrier, was delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) in March. The firm filed for bankruptcy protection in late January 2015 blaming a weaker yen and a dispute over down payments for Airbus jets for its insolvency.