AirAsia connects $10 billion Bahrain hub to Europe

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February 13, 2026 | 12:00am

BAHRAIN — Low-cost carrier AirAsia is connecting Southeast Asia to Europe and Africa by opening a transit hub here for one-stop flights, the first of which would bridge Kuala Lumpur and London.

AirAsia’s parent Capital A Berhad is spending up to $10 billion to make Bahrain its transfer hub to Western destinations, a project expected to generate at least 100,000 jobs here.

Capital A CEO Tony Fernandes said the plan is to operate daily flights from AirAsia’s Southeast Asian bases to Bahrain, and then connect to Europe and African cities.

However, Fernandes told The STAR that it would take some time before AirAsia can link Manila and Bahrain directly. He said the airline can no longer expand at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport as the gateway is already congested.

Fernandes said the carrier is waiting for the P735.63-billion New Manila International Airport in Bulacan to open. The airport’s first phase, which can handle 35 million passengers per annum, is scheduled to be operational by late-2028.

Fernandes committed to consider Manila as a transit hub for AirAsia’s future services to North America, particularly to the US, given that the city is just 12 hours away from the US West Coast.

For now, Fernandes said AirAsia would prioritize marketing its one-stop services between Kuala Lumpur and London via Bahrain, which would begin flying on June 26.

Afterward, AirAsia is mounting direct flights between Bangkok and Bahrain, and before the year ends, a new destination in Africa will be added to the airline’s network.

“To really get the low cost, we needed a place to stop, and hence we found Bahrain. The plan is to have many, many flights a day from Southeast Asia to Bahrain, and from here in Bahrain, we will build an airline that flies all over Africa and Europe,” Fernandes said.

AirAsia plans to deploy 100 aircraft into Bahrain by the time that it is done transitioning its fleet to all single-aisle jets. Once the investment is complete, the airline is confident of flying as many as 45 million passengers annually to Bahrain and opening connections to 120 cities worldwide.

AirAsia chose Bahrain as its transit hub because of its favorable location, sitting as close as two to three hours away from Europe.

In 2021, Bahrain International Airport opened its new terminal, and authorities are working on attracting more carriers to scale up passenger volume.