KUALA LUMPUR (April 23): AirAsia Bhd has entered into an agreement to lease its Airbus A320-200 aircraft with the serial number MSN 4070 to AirAsia (India) Pte Ltd for US$1.92 million (RM6.98 million), reported Bernama.

AirAsia (fundamental: 0.2; valuation: 0.8) had previously entered into two other leasing transactions with AirAsia India in relation to aircraft, with serial numbers MSN 5824 and MSN 3448, said AirAsia in its filing to Bursa Malaysia, according to the news agency.

It said AirAsia India is expected to pay US$19.849 million for MSN 5824 over a 60-month period, and US$10.033 million for MSN 3448 over 36 months.

"The company currently leases aircraft to the other joint venture (JV) airlines within the AirAsia Group in its ordinary course of business, and in line with AirAsia's growth strategies, the fleet expansion of AirAsia India would help to maximise the route opportunities in South Asia," AirAsia was quoted as saying.

AirAsia Bhd, via its subsidiary AirAsia Investment Ltd, holds a 49% stake in AirAsia India, with the remainder held by Tata Sons Ltd (30%) and Telestra Tradeplace Pvt Ltd (21%), said Bernama.

(Note: The Edge Research’s fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)