(Yicai Global) Sept. 19 -- AirAsia still nurtures ambitions in the Chinese market, the founder and chief executive of the Malaysian low-cost carrier told Yicai Global in an exclusive interview, despite a deal to set up a joint venture with China Everbright Group falling through at the end of August.

"You can't have a name AirAsia without having China included," Tony Fernandes said on the sidelines of the Singapore Summit, a gathering of thought leaders from the worlds of business and government that took place on Sept. 15. "There's lots of potential growth for us in China."

The Kuala Lumpur-based airline may revive plans to work with Chinese state-owned asset manager Everbright in the future, he added.

The two parties along with the Henan provincial government agreed a memorandum of understanding in May last year to jointly pursue a low-frills carrier operation based in Zhengzhou, the capital of China's central Henan province. However, they were unable to agree on a follow-up deal to shore up the plans and ultimately allowed the memorandum to lapse last month.

"Everbright have been a great partner," Fernandes said. "We are still partners with them at Everbright, looking at many opportunities."

Despite AirAsia's lack of a standalone operation in the world's second-biggest economy, the airline already puts on multiple flights linking the capitals of Malaysia and Thailand with several Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

New Routes and Markets

"While the Chinese market appears very crowded, a lot of it is focused on the eastern side and I think we can do a lot of things in the country differently from other airlines including creating new routes and new markets," Fernandes said.

AirAsia's decision to run flights to some of China's less obvious tourist spots is indicative of its approach to the market. While acknowledging the significance of China's swelling outbound tourist numbers, Fernandes also emphasized the importance of the country as a vacation spot for visitors from Southeast Asia.

In addition to first-tier Chinese cities, the carrier serves some of the country's lesser-known areas. These include Sichuan provincial capital Chengdu in the west, the country's original ancient capital Xi'an and southwestern Yunnan province, known for its diverse mix of snow-capped mountains and tropical rainforest.

"Everyone wants to visit China so I have taken a very different approach to the country, a lot of our routes are about bringing people to Guilin, for instance, to Xi'an, these are these are places that are off the beaten track in some ways," he said.

"China is obviously a big exodus market, but for us, its sixty-forty, 40 percent of people are people going in to China as well," Fernandes added. "We have marketed China to our audience and it's a huge opportunity for us not just in taking people out but in bringing people in."

AirAsia also has plans to extend its reach in the country beyond the southern and central areas. "We want to go further up north to Dalian and Shenyang as well as further west, which is unknown to many people."

Editors: William Clegg, Emmi Laine