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Founded | September 1995 (as Asian Spirit) 2000s (as Zest Air) |
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Ceased operations | January 2016 (merged into AirAsia Philippines) | ||||||
AOC # | 2009003 | ||||||
Hubs |
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Fleet size | 15 | ||||||
Destinations | 13 | ||||||
Company slogan | Now everyone can fly | ||||||
Parent company | AirAsia Philippines | ||||||
Headquarters |
Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines |
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Key people | Marianne Hontiveros (Chairman) Joy Cañeba (CEO) |
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Website | www |
Zest Airways, Inc. operated as AirAsia Zest (formerly Asian Spirit and Zest Air), was a low-cost airline based at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City, Metro Manila in the Philippines. It operated scheduled domestic and international tourist services, mainly feeder services linking Manila and Cebu with 24 domestic destinations in support of the trunk route operations of other airlines. In 2013, the airline became an affiliate of Philippines AirAsia operating their brand separately. Its main base was Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manila.
The airline was founded as Asian Spirit, the first airline in the Philippines to be run as a cooperative. On August 16, 2013, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), the regulating body of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines for civil aviation, suspended Zest Air flights until further notice because of safety issues. Less than a year after AirAsia and Zest Air's strategic alliance, the airline has been rebranded as AirAsia Zest. The airline was merged into AirAsia Philippines in January 2016.
AirAsia Zest was established as Asian Spirit in September 1995 by three friends: Antonio "Toti" Turalba, Emmanuel "Noel" Oñate and Archibald Po, who contributed $1 million each to start up the Airline Employees Cooperative (AEC). They invited 36 of their friends, mostly former Philippine Airlines employees, to run Asian Spirit through a salary-to-equity swap deal. The Po family held the majority of ownership.
It started operations in April 1996 with two second hand Dash 7 aircraft servicing only one scheduled commercial route with two flights per day from Manila to Malay, serving the fledging resort island of Boracay. To maximise its aircraft utilisation, it introduced new routes to the present-day towns of San Jose, Virac, Daet and Alcantara, and the cities of Cauayan and Masbate, regarded as secondary and tertiary routes by Air Transportation Office, and not serviced by major airlines. In 1997, the cooperative changed to a corporate set-up with the establishment of Asian Spirit, Inc., whose registration was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2005.