Record quarter for AirAsia
KULA LUMPUR: Air Asia has announced its best quarter ever with most sectors of its business enjoying growth and improved profits.
Air Asia Chief executive Tony Fernandes said the airline had outperformed expectations on every performance metrics: load factor, yields, ancillary income penetration and unit cost reduction.
He said the performance was “significantly better than our initial budgets”.
“This exceptional performance was achieved during a period whereby we are investing significant amount of resources into the business. We opened up two new hubs which are enduring start-up losses and we have launched 15 new routes which are very capital intensive.
“This all around robust performance highlights the value and benefits unlocked by the domestic rationalisation as well as strategic initiatives we have taken over the past year.”
Revenue for the quarter was RM401 million, a growth of 61 per cent compared to the same period last year. Load factor for the quarter was 82 per cent, which is a six percentage point improvement from last year.
Fernandes added, “The high load factor showcases the consumer’s acceptance of our rapid capacity addition of 52 per cent in the quarter. Average fare was lower by five per cent mainly due to a shorter stage length and our commitment to drive down fares while boosting load factor.
“The net result is favourable as we managed to improve yields by three per cent despite the lower average fare.
“Unit cost was down by one per cent year on year to US2.66 cents / ASK as we continue to extract value from the new Airbus A320 and the low cost terminal.
“The combination of higher yields and lower cost enabled us to deliverer a pre-tax income of RM93 million, an 80 per cent growth as compared to the same period last year. Our EBITDAR margin of 44.4 per cent, to our knowledge, is the highest in the world.”
Fernandes said Thai AirAsia continued to enjoy strong growth as depicted by passenger volume growth of 52 per cent for the quarter with 80 per cent load factor.
Average fare was 13 per cent lower than the same period last year with relatively flat unit cost. Net profit for the quarter was THB33 million (RM2 million).
“This performance was achieved despite going through the military coup and the bombings in Bangkok,” said Fernandes.
“The forced move to Suvarnabhumi airport has negatively impacted our operations. We are working together with the airport authorities of Thailand to mitigate the problem.
“Either we have to stay in Suvarnabhumi or move back to Don Muang. We will find ways to solve the issues – as we have done so before when we were told to move to KLIA from Subang airport.”
Ian Jarrett
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