AirAsia flew 15.81m passengers in Q2
Solid numbers point to better financial showing due later this month, say analysts
AIRASIA Bhd said yesterday it carried 15.81 million passengers in the second quarter ended June 30, an increase of 14 per cent year-on-year.
The seating capacity of AsiaAsia also rose 11 per cent year-onyear, it reported.
Asia’s largest low-cost airline by fleet had a load factor of 88 per cent in the second quarter, up three per cent from the same quarter last year.
Analysts said the solid numbers suggested a better financial showing for AirAsia when its second-quarter results were due later this month.
AirAsia was likely to report better profit on higher passenger traffic despite higher jet fuel cost, they said.
CIMB Research said the airline might deliver better results despite the ringgit being weaker by 5.7 per cent year-on-year and jet fuel price (inclusive of hedging) being higher by 11 per cent yearon-year.
This is because of AirAsia’s higher load factor, which would offset most or all of the cost hikes.
For the first quarter ended March 31, AirAsia’s net profit fell 30 per cent to RM615.8 million from RM877.79 million a year ago, due to higher fuel cost. Revenue rose 31 per cent to RM2.26 billion from RM1.7 billion previously.
AirAsia’s share price closed flat at RM3.26 yesterday.
It said at the end of the quarter under review, the group’s total fleet size stood at 178 aircraft, not including two aircraft delivered to AirAsia Japan which had yet to commence operation.
“AirAsia Bhd Consolidated (AOCs) achieved a load factor of 89 per cent, up by two percentage points from the same period last year.
“Strong demand for air travel helped the number of passengers carried increase 10 per cent yearon-year to 9.61 million, more than the eight per cent increase in capacity,” it said in a statement.
The group said AOCs ended the quarter with a fleet size of 106 aircraft, comprising 77 registered in Malaysia (AirAsia Bhd), 14 in Indonesia (PT Indonesia AirAsia) and 15 in the Philippines (Philippines AirAsia Inc).
Thai AirAsia (TAA) reported a load factor of 86 per cent, up by three percentage points year-onyear.
During the quarter, TAA carried 4.69 million passengers, an increase of 13 per cent year-onyear, which was higher than the nine per cent growth in seat capacity.
“TAA took an additional aircraft during the quarter, thus ending the quarter with a total of 54 aircraft,” it said.
AirAsia India (AAI) reported a load factor of 90 per cent, up by three percentage points year-onyear.
“The number of passengers carried increased 89 per cent year-on-year to 1.01 million, more than the 83 per cent increase in capacity.
“AAI ended the second quarter with a fleet size of 10 after adding one aircraft during the quarter,” it said.