SEPANG (Aug 26): Capital A Bhd (KL:CAPITALA) chief executive officer (CEO) Tan Sri Tony Fernandes has not given up on the plan for the group's in-flight catering unit Santan to provide meals aboard Malaysia Airlines flights, saying discussions on the matter are ongoing.

“I met Captain Izham (Malaysia Aviation Group Bhd managing director and Malaysia Airlines CEO) recently. He's a very good friend of mine, and I think Catherine (Santan CEO) is in discussion with [Malaysia Airlines],” Fernandes said during the launch of Santan's 'Club Zero', a campaign promoting lesser consumption of sugar, on Monday.

While Fernandes acknowledged that Malaysia Airlines has already engaged with other caterers, he still sees the possibility of supplying Santan's new zero-sugar food and beverages (F&B) option to the national carrier.

“Who knows, maybe they will take the zero-sugar option from us. We dare to dream of working with Malaysia Airlines one day,” he said.

Meanwhile, Goh said Santan is always open to pursue a potential partnership with Malaysia Airlines.

“We are always very open for discussions to see in any way we,” she told The Edge.

Fernandes had proposed the partnership between Santan and Malaysia Airlines in September last year, when Malaysia Airlines terminated its catering contract with Brahim’s Food Services Sdn Bhd (BFS) after two decades to work with multiple F&B companies to provide in-flight meals.

BFS, which is 70%-owned by Brahim’s Holdings Bhd and 30% by Malaysia Aviation Group, still runs the country’s biggest in-flight catering kitchen at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Besides Malaysia Airlines, Santan is actively looking for potential partnerships with other international carriers and transportation modes, according to Goh.

“With our services and offerings, we can even venture into providing [in-board catering] to, for example, trains, cruises or even buses,” she said.

Capital A is seeking to strengthen its non-aviation business — which includes Santan, super app Move Digital, air freighter Teleport and aircraft maintenance unit Asia Digital Engineering — as its medium-haul affiliate AirAsia X Bhd (KL:AAX) will soon be taking over the Practice Note 17 group's short-haul airlines, namely AirAsia Malaysia, AirAsia Thailand, AirAsia Indonesia, AirAsia Philippines and AirAsia Cambodia.

On the new zero-sugar drinks offered by Santan, Goh said over 30,000 units have been sold since the pre-launch in April.

She added that Santan has also partnered with local brands Secret Recipe and Tealive to offer sugar-free F&B options on AirAsia flights.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, who officiated the launch, commended Santan for leading the initiative to encourage healthier eating habits among Malaysians.

“I hope more brands will follow suit and offer healthier options to customers,” Dzulkefly said.

Shares of Capital A finished half a sen or 0.63% higher at 80.5 sen on Monday, valuing the group at RM3.47 billion.