AirAsia Group Berhad has announced the grounding of most of its fleet around the world due to Covid-19, which has led to extensive border restrictions by various countries.

In a statement, it listed the suspension of most or all AirAsia and AirAsiaX flights from various countries it operates out of, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and India.

In Malaysia, the grounding of flights includes the suspension of all international and domestic flights from Malaysia from March 28 to April 21 and most AirAsiaX flights from March 28 to May 31.

“We will continue to evaluate the situation closely and are prepared to reinstate our services as soon as the situation improves, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals.

“All affected guests are being immediately notified by email and SMS.”

AirAsia customers, it added, have the option of converting their flight bookings into a credit account that is valid for future redemption for 365 days or move their flights for an unlimited number of times, without any charges, to another date before Oct 31.

 “We believe this temporary fleet hibernation is the right thing to do to ensure the well-being of our guests and employees, who will remain as the top priority of our business during this challenging time.”

To manage costs during this period, the management and senior employees have volunteered to take pay cuts ranging from 15% to 100%.

“This will help ensure we can ride out this prolonged period of extremely low travel demand and, at the same time, minimise the impact on our employees, especially those in junior positions.”

It added AirAsia’s cargo and logistics platform, Teleport, will remain operational to help transport medical aid and protective equipment for hospitals and frontliners.