KUALA LUMPUR (April 8): While the aviation industry is most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, Capital A Bhd chief executive Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said that 2023 will be a good year for the company to return to profitability.

"I am not sure if we will be profitable this year (2022), but I am very confident that 2023 will look very good," Fernandes told the media after a virtual briefing of the airasia Super App and Google Cloud partnership on Friday (April 8).

"With the borders reopening on April 1, there is a lot of pent-up demand for travel. I think we will have most of our fleet flying by the end of the year. We are now trying to get as many aircraft back in the air as possible, and that would be 200 aircraft. We are also doing very well in the Philippines and Indonesia, which is a big bonus, and in some ways Covid-19 has given us a break in those two countries.

"To return to profitability in 2023, [I think] we have the possibility of doing that," Fernandes added.

For the full financial year ended Dec 31, 2021 (FY21), Capital A narrowed its net losses to RM3.12 billion or 83 sen per share, down from RM5.11 billion or RM1.53 per share in FY20, despite a significant drop in revenue to RM1.73 billion from RM3.27 billion in FY20.

Capital A, formerly known as AirAsia Group Bhd, said 58% of its full-year revenue came from its aviation segment and the remaining 42% from its digital business.

The company ended FY21 with positive net cash flow of RM725.8 million, compared with negative net cash flow of RM2.2 billion in FY20.

In January, AirAsia was renamed to Capital A to reflect the group's new business strategy as an investment holding group for not only its aviation business but also its logistics, lifestyle and financial services ventures.

At the time of writing on Friday, Capital A shares rose 0.71% or half a sen to 70.5 sen, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM2.91 billion.