diff --git a/autoload/airline/extensions/po.vim b/autoload/airline/extensions/po.vim
index 705f5a19..25ca9b56 100644
--- a/autoload/airline/extensions/po.vim
+++ b/autoload/airline/extensions/po.vim
@@ -3,6 +3,58 @@
 
 scriptencoding utf-8
 
+let s:has_async = airline#util#async
+
+function! s:shorten()
+  if exists("g:airline#extensions#po#displayed_limit")
+    let w:displayed_po_limit = g:airline#extensions#po#displayed_limit
+    if len(b:airline_po_stats) > w:displayed_po_limit - 1
+      let b:airline_po_stats = b:airline_po_stats[0:(w:displayed_po_limit - 2)].(&encoding==?'utf-8' ? '…' : '.'). ']'
+    endif
+  endif
+endfunction
+
+if s:has_async
+  let s:jobs = {}
+
+  function! s:on_stdout(channel, msg) dict abort
+    let self.buf = a:msg
+  endfunction
+
+  function! s:on_exit(channel) dict abort
+    if !empty(self.buf)
+      let b:airline_po_stats = printf("[%s]", self.buf)
+    else
+      let b:airline_po_stats = ''
+    endif
+    call s:shorten()
+  endfunction
+
+  function! s:DoAsyncPO(cmd, file)
+    if g:airline#util#is_windows || !executable('msgfmt')
+      " no msgfmt on windows?
+      return
+    else
+      let cmd = ['sh', '-c', a:cmd. shellescape(a:file)]
+    endif
+
+    let options = {'buf': '', 'file': a:file}
+    if has_key(s:jobs, a:file)
+      if job_status(get(s:jobs, a:file)) == 'run'
+        return
+      else
+        call job_stop(get(s:jobs, a:file))
+        call remove(s:jobs, a:file)
+      endif
+    endif
+    let id = job_start(cmd, {
+          \ 'err_io':   'out',
+          \ 'out_cb':   function('s:on_stdout', options),
+          \ 'close_cb': function('s:on_exit', options)})
+    let s:jobs[a:file] = id
+  endfu
+endif
+
 function! airline#extensions#po#apply(...)
   if &ft ==# 'po'
     call airline#extensions#prepend_to_section('z', '%{airline#extensions#po#stats()}')
@@ -15,22 +67,22 @@ function! airline#extensions#po#stats()
     return b:airline_po_stats
   endif
 
-  let airline_po_stats = system('msgfmt --statistics -o /dev/null -- '. expand('%:p'))
-  if v:shell_error
-    return ''
-  endif
-  try
-    let b:airline_po_stats = '['. split(airline_po_stats, '\n')[0]. ']'
-  catch
-    let b:airline_po_stats = ''
-  endtry
-  if exists("g:airline#extensions#po#displayed_limit")
-    let w:displayed_po_limit = g:airline#extensions#po#displayed_limit
-    if len(b:airline_po_stats) > w:displayed_po_limit - 1
-      let b:airline_po_stats = b:airline_po_stats[0:(w:displayed_po_limit - 1)].(&encoding==?'utf-8' ? '…' : '.')
+  let cmd = 'msgfmt --statistics -o /dev/null -- '
+  if s:has_async
+    call s:DoAsyncPO(cmd, expand('%:p'))
+  else
+    let airline_po_stats = system(cmd. shellescape(expand('%:p')))
+    if v:shell_error
+      return ''
     endif
+    try
+      let b:airline_po_stats = '['. split(airline_po_stats, '\n')[0]. ']'
+    catch
+      let b:airline_po_stats = ''
+    endtry
+    call s:shorten()
   endif
-  return b:airline_po_stats
+  return get(b:, 'airline_po_stats', '')
 endfunction
 
 function! airline#extensions#po#init(ext)