Malaysia's AirAsia to double Airbus A320 fleet

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 (Reuters) Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia Bhd announced on Friday plans to double its Airbus A320 fleet to 200.

AirAsia, which introduced its low-fare, no-frills concept in December 2001, has firm orders for 100 Airbus A320 aircraft, with options on 30 more.

''We are looking at topping up the order,'' AirAsia Deputy Chief Executive Kamarudin Meranun told reporters.

Asked how many in total AirAsia plans to buy, he said: ''Maximum 200.'' The additional 70 aircraft would potentially make the 5-year-old airline one of the biggest fleets in Asia.

Kamarudin said AirAsia expected to finalise its fleet expansion plan by the end of this month.

AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes has said that the airline, which services some 500 million people in the Asia Pacific region, including Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, needs more aircraft in order to properly fuel growth.

At a list price of around million each A320 craft, an additional 70 planes would cost AirAsia .55 billion. In December, Fernandes said that any plane purchases would be paid for using bank loans.

REUTERS CS SSC1356