By Kandy Wong,Ralph Jennings

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Malaysian low-cost airline AirAsia has shown strong interest in acquiring the Chinese C919 passenger jet, its executive said, as part of its strategy to tap into Southeast Asia’s 700 million-strong population and capitalise on growing China-Asean business ties.
“We’re in active discussions to buy the C919,” Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A – an investment holding company of AirAsia – told the Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
“We’re the first foreign airline to be working with Comac [on a deal for the C919],” he added, referring to the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China – the state-owned manufacturer of the jet, which seats up to 192 passengers and has a flying range of up to 5,555 kilometres.
Fernandes did not disclose the potential order size, pricing or other details.
Interest in the single-aisle Chinese passenger aircraft, designed to compete with the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 series, has grown alongside the expansion of flight connections and economic ties within and between the Asean bloc and China.
Currently, 2,552 scheduled passenger flights operate weekly between China and Asean countries, up 8.3 per cent from last year, data from China’s civil aviation regulator showed.

Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke previously said both budget carrier AirAsia and new airline Air Borneo were eyeing the C919, with growing air travel in the region and backlogs in Airbus and Boeing seen as drivers.
The C919 made its commercial debut in May 2023 and has since flown more than 1.5 million passengers. Three Chinese state-owned airlines – Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines – operate a fleet of 18 and have placed hundreds of additional orders. But Comac has yet to secure any overseas orders for the aircraft.
As a first step to move beyond the domestic market, the company planned to have the C919 flying on commercial routes to Southeast Asia by 2026, according to a report by the Chinese media outlet Jiemian, citing Yang Yang, Comac’s deputy general manager of marketing and sales.
“Asean is becoming like the European Union where it’s easier to trade with common legislation, free trade zones [and it’s] easy to move people around,” Capital A’s Fernandes said, noting that this benefited airlines like AirAsia.
Korthong Thongtham Na Ayutthaya, acting director of a Thai Eastern Economic Corridor division, said China had also approached Thailand about buying the Chinese aircraft. “They are just talking in the initial stages,” he told the same Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong.