AirAsia picks Bahrain as Middle East hub for ‘global expansion’
November 4, 2025
AirAsia is set to establish Bahrain as its first Middle Eastern hub, the next step in what the low-cost group calls its global expansion plans beyond its Southeast Asian roots.
Parent company Capital A signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Bahrain’s Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications this week, outlining plans for a wide-ranging partnership that will see the airline group base operations in the Gulf state.
The agreement covers potential new routes, maintenance facilities, cargo operations, and aviation training schemes.
AirAsia plans new routes between Bahrain and Southeast Asia
Under the plan, AirAsia aims to launch flights linking Bahrain with Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines over the next five years, with onward connections to Europe and North America. It was not clear who would be operating those onward connections.
The group is also studying the creation of a Bahrain-based Air Operator Certificate (AOC), which would allow it to fly within the wider Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.
By the end of the decade, the airline expects to operate up to 25 daily flights through Bahrain, carrying an estimated 20 million passengers.
AirAsia-Bahrain partnership a ‘game-changer’
Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A, said: “This partnership is a game-changer.
“Bahrain continues AirAsia’s innovative and pioneering spirit of creating new models to carry on our mission of ‘Now Everyone Can Fly’, and this is reflected in the areas we are exploring with this partnership.
“The future of travel is multi-hub, seamless and borderless. By 2030, in addition to potentially operating a Bahrain-based AOC, we expect to operate over 25 daily flights between Bahrain and our Asean megahubs, carrying over 20 million passengers over the next five years.
“There will be new flows of people, trade, talent and cargo, not just between major capitals but into fast-growing secondary and emerging cities where real economic expansion happens.”
Driving Bahrain’s nascent aviation ecosystem
Capital A says the partnership could generate around BHD 3 billion (US$8 billion) for Bahrain’s economy and support over 100,000 jobs.
A new training and recruitment programme will prioritise Bahraini nationals for pilot, cabin crew, engineering and ground roles, with 1,000 hires planned in the first year alone.
Asia Digital Engineering (ADE), Capital A’s Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) arm, plans to establish a significant presence in Bahrain by constructing a facility including hangars and workshops which can service both narrow and wide body aircraft.
Capital A’s logistics arm, Teleport, will base dedicated freighters in the Kingdom to strengthen connectivity for the Middle East, Europe, Africa and the CIS.
International growth strategy
Just as flag carrier Gulf Air has tried to do, the move positions Bahrain as a strategic bridge – this time between AirAsia’s established Southeast Asian network and long-haul markets to the west.
It also reinforces the Kingdom’s ambitions to expand its aviation footprint as Gulf states diversify their economies.
For AirAsia, the announcement represents the latest phase in an aggressive international growth strategy.
Founded in Malaysia as a budget carrier more than two decades ago, AirAsia has since evolved into a multi-hub operation with affiliates in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and more recently Cambodia.
The group’s no-frills model helped democratise air travel across Asia, carrying hundreds of millions of passengers and forcing legacy rivals to adapt.
With its parent Capital A restructuring to separate airline operations from its digital and logistics arms, AirAsia is turning its attention to new markets.
Featured image: AirAsia
