ROARING PAST LION?

AirAsia Malaysia set to expand at rapid pace in 2019, says CAPA

without having to mount additional flights, compared to the A320ceo.

“AirAsia will continue expanding at a similar pace next year that includes more passengers, aircraft delivery, and revenue generation,” he told NST Business.

Sobie said AirAsia Malaysia could overtake Lion Air, the Indonesian LCC, to become the largest Southeast Asian airline next year, based on the latter’s relatively flat capacity this year.

“Passenger traffic at Lion has declined since reaching a peak of 36 million in 2015, whereas AirAsia Malaysia’s passenger traffic has risen by nearly 50 per cent since 2014.

“In recent years, the Lion Group had been focusing expansion at its two foreign joint ventures, Malaysia’s Malindo Air and Thai Lion Air, as well as its fullservice Indonesian subsidiary, Batik Air,” he said.

The airline had been able to regain market share in Malaysia, while keeping up an average growth rate in the broader SEA market with passenger traffic growing between nine and 11 per cent over the past four years.

“Further market share gains are likely this year, since AirAsia Malaysia expects similar passenger growth. Its market share for this year will exceed 40 per cent. Although the overall local growth has slowed to about three per cent, the airline managed to post up to 11 per cent passenger growth in the first three quarters of this year,” he added.

Sobie said the airline had benefited from capacity reductions at Malindo and Malaysia Airlines, adding that AirAsia will account for nearly 55 per cent of all passenger traffic in Malaysia this year.

He said this includes eight per cent market share for long haul LCC, AirAsia X and about five per cent share for the group’s overseas affiliates.

Sobie said AirAsia Malaysia operation has been enjoying resurgence in its domestic market, driven by its double-digit domestic capacity expansion of 60 per cent.

“It now operates 37 domestic routes and has launched four domestic routes, including Kuantan and Ipoh this year, and increased frequencies on 29 of the 33 existing routes,” he said.

Sobie said AirAsia Malaysia was likely to add new secondary destinations, including Silangit and Phu Quoc.

He said AirAsia Malaysia had expanded its in-service fleet by 10 aircraft this year, enabling the airline to grow seat capacity by more than 15 per cent.

“AirAsia Malaysia has launched 12 new routes and five new destinations (two domestic and three international) this year, while adding frequencies on 45 existing routes,” he said.

Sobie said AirAsia Malaysia is the largest airline among the eight airlines that operate under the AirAsia brand, adding that the airline has consistently been the most profitable of all the airlines in the AirAsia portfolio.

“In the third quarter of this year, AirAsia Malaysia was the only AirAsia-branded airline to post a profit. However, its operating profit fell 48 per cent due to higher fuel costs,” he said.