AirAsia X swings to loss in Q3

KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia X Bhd said yesterday that it swung into a net loss in its third quarter from a year earlier, blaming higher costs and lower unit revenues particularly in its main markets of Malaysia and Thailand.

The long-haul, low-cost airline cited an overall challenging environment in Malaysia together with higher marketing expenses and lower other income in Thailand, and said both regions saw operating losses.

The airline reported a small profit in its Indonesia business, supported by strong revenue from its Bali routes.

AirAsia X said costs, measured in terms of cost per available seat kilometres, rose 6% from a year ago, on the back of provision for doubtful debt.

A weaker ringgit against the US dollar and higher average fuel prices — up 3% from a year ago — also had an impact.

Revenue per available seat kilometres was down 3% year-on-year due to increased capacity on existing routes and promotional fares offered to stimulate new routes, it said.

For the July-September period, the airline reported a net loss of 43.3 million ringgit ($10.55 million), compared with 11 million ringgit profit a year earlier.

Revenue climbed to 1.12 billion ringgit, supported by a 23% growth in passenger volume and 4% increase in ancillary revenue per passenger.

Load factor — a measure of how full planes are — inched up one percentage point to 79%.