AirAsia Philippines is keeping its long-term goal of going public on the table, as the low-cost carrier charts its path toward fleet expansion and the addition of new hub airports to ensure profitability.

AirAsia Philippines President Suresh Bangah said a timeline for an initial public offering (IPO) has not yet been set, noting that the company must first demonstrate a consistent revenue performance.

“What we need to do is to stabilize operations, to have a strong foundation, and then we'll take it to the next step for public listing,” he told reporters.

Bangah said the carrier is planning to “comparatively” match the fleet size of other major local carriers to carry out this goal.

To recall, budget carrier Cebu Pacific currently has a fleet of 98 aircraft, while flag carrier Philippine Airlines operates with 79 aircraft.

“So not necessarily to hit 70 planes. It's all about ensuring revenue profitability. And that, when you go public listing, is the main thing,” said Bangah.

“You have a certain threshold. As long as you make that much of revenue and you show profitability, you can go. It doesn't mean that if we get 70 planes, we'll be making money. Not necessarily,” he added.

Earlier this year, Capital A Berhad Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tony Fernandes said AirAsia Philippines is looking to sell 20 to 30 percent of its shares through an IPO for its expansion plans.

The Malaysia-based AirAsia Group, which includes AirAsia Philippines, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Capital A Berhad.

In 2024, Capital A reported 19 billion Malaysian ringgit or around ₱235 billion in revenue, up 39 percent from the previous year’s 14.8 billion Malaysian ringgit—signaling a strong momentum across the group.

AirAsia Philippines currently operates a fleet of 15 aircraft, with plans to add four Airbus A320s by the end of the year.

These additional jets, which will first go through maintenance works, will boost the airline’s domestic coverage.

The ideal scenario, according to Bangah, is to fly its fleet out of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) since concentrated operations would result in cheaper costs, ultimately leading to cheaper fares.

Given the limitations of slots in NAIA, AirAsia Philippines is planning to expand into other areas in the country, such as Clark, Cebu, Bohol, and Tacloban.

This plan is now under study to evaluate route revenue, sensitivity impact, and trunk routes to determine if they are profitable.

“At AirAsia, our motto was always affordable travel. So when you want to do affordable travel, you have to be smart where you want to operate out to,” he explained.

For the first half of the year, AirAsia Philippines has served 1.8 million passengers, with advanced bookings for the rest of 2025 reaching about three million.

Domestically, the strongest routes from January to June have been Cagayan, Cebu, and Caticlan. While for the international front, they include Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

The carrier is targeting 7.5 million passengers this year, a four-percent increase from the 2024 year-end projection of 7.2 million, with a seat load factor of 89 percent.