MANILA — Low-cost airline AirAsia on Wednesday said it is eyeing to go public in the Philippines within the next 12 months to bankroll its expansion plans.

During an online press conference, AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said the company is looking to sell 20 to 30 percent of its shares through a possible initial public offering or by going through the backdoor listing route.

“It’s still being worked on but rather than sell it to an individual or company, we are focused on listing on the Filipino stock exchange. I had good discussions with Speaker (Martin) Romualdez on the Philippine Stock Exchange,” he said.

The news comes as the company is set to finalize its restructuring plan.

“We’ve been talking about it for a while, about listing in the Philippines. I think we had ownership problems and now we own 100 percent. We’re in a much clearer state,” said Fernandes.

He did not disclose yet how much the company aims to raise but he said the money would primarily be used to acquire more aircraft and to fund other plans for expansion.

“We’ve been tight on cash, right? I mean, it’s no secret that COVID hit us hard. We survived and so now we’re going back to growth,” he added.

AirAsia is expecting a delivery of 14 additional aircraft this year, with the Philippines set to get three to four of the planes.

“The aim is to rapidly build our fleet to 25 in the Philippines,” said Fernandes.

The bigger fleet is seen to support the airline’s goal to make the Philippines a key transit point to the US.

“We’re not just targeting Filipinos, we’re targeting people from ASEAN to use Manila as a base. My vision is that even Japanese, Koreans and Chinese would fly down to Manila and use us to the west coast of America and east coast of America and other parts, and eventually Latin America,” he said.

Fernandes said AirAsia is particularly bullish on the Philippines as the country undertakes several airport rehabilitations and expansions.

“With the airport development that’s happening in Manila, we can start to see Manila as one of our important hubs. There’s also going to be a lot of capacity coming on with the new airport in the north of Manila,” he said, referring to the gateway being built in Bulacan province.

Beyond the airline business, AirAsia partner firm Capital A also has plans to bring its engineering company ADE to the Philippines.

Fernandes said this is what he talked about with Philippine Finance Secretary Ralph Recto during the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos earlier this year.

“We’re going to decide where to put this. A maintenance facility can be in Clark, that’s not a problem, it can be in Cebu, it can be in Bulacan, and it can be in Manila as well,” he said.