AAX Malaysia passengers up to 1.39 million

PETALING JAYA: AirAsia X Bhd (AAX) carried slightly more than a third more passengers in the second quarter (Q2) ended June 30 compared with a year earlier, with the total distance travelled by these passengers expanding by about the same percentage.

Announcing its preliminary operating statistics yesterday, the long-haul budget carrier said operating performance in the period trended slightly above expectations despite Q2 historically being the leanest quarter.

The number of passengers who flew with AAX Malaysia grew 34.4% to 1.39 million compared to a year earlier, while revenue passenger kilometres grew 35.0% to 6.79 billion.

“The company continues to stimulate demand to fill up additional capacity injected in Q2 by achieving a marked improvement in passenger load factor of 80%, up five percentage points (ppts) year-on-year (y-o-y), in line with the 26% y-o-y growth in available seat kilometres to 8.45 billion in the quarter,” AAX said.

During the quarter under review, AAX Malaysia added frequency to two routes: Kuala Lumpur–Shanghai and Osaka.

AAX Malaysia also added Honolulu to its network during the quarter under review, the airline’s maiden service to the United States.

No new aircraft was added in the period, so the fleet size stood at 22 A330s.

On the associates, it said AAX Thailand recorded a strong passenger load factor of 92%, an increase of three ppts from 89% a year ago.

AAX Thailand carried 387,959 passengers in Q2, 26% higher than the same period last year. There is no new route or frequency for AAX Thailand’s network in the quarter.