In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, the budget airline said the loan had been secured as part of the group’s fundraising exercise and to pivot the airline into the digital business.

It said the loan was mainly intended to enhance AirAsia’s logistics presence in Sabah, creating over 100,000 new jobs in the process.

The fund will be used for specific development projects, including to establish OurFarm’s (its agriculture e-commerce platform) digital food supply chain and cold chain facilities in Sabah (allocation of RM170 million) and to part-finance a project to turn Kota Kinabalu International Airport into an international hub for AirAsia Bhd (RM110 million).

A sum of RM10 million would be used to enhance e-commerce platforms and marketability of products from Sabah and another RM10 million would be used to further promote Sabah tourism destinations on airasia.com, the digital super app of AirAsia, it added.