MAS upbeat over prospects
SUBANG – Malaysia Airlines has released a strong set of fourth quarter figues accompanied by an upbeat assessment of the carrier’s prospects this year.
MAs reported that it has returned to profitability for its fourth quarter ending December 31, 2009, posting a net profit of RM610 million, rebounding from RM300 million net loss in Q309 and an improvement over its RM46 million net profit in Q408.
The national carrier reported a small operating profit of RM3.8 million for the quarter under review with its traffic increasing 12 percent, outperforming the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines’ (AAPA) 17 member airlines’ growth of four percent.
The carrier said the increase in traffic is attributable to aggressive domestic and global sales campaigns, competitive pricing coupled with the seasonal peak travel period.
The result: The number of passengers carried in Q409 was 3.4 million, the highest since Q108, boosting the load factor to 76.5 percent compared to 65.3 percent in Q408.
Two other contributing factors were a RM500 million or 13 percent reduction in operating costs mainly due to the decrease in fuel prices and a rebound in cargo business.
On an annual basis, MAS reported a net profit of RM490 million for FY2009 compared to RM244 million net profit a year earlier.
Managing director and CEO, Azmil Zahruddin, said, “We have been resilient in the face of adversity as shown by our modest Q409 net profit.
“We have focused on bringing in the sales, proactively reducing capacity to cope with the fall in demand and building strategic partnerships.
“For 2010, we are positioning ourselves to capture the growth in light of signs of recovery. One of the ways we are doing this is through the modernisation of our fleet and expanding our network.”
From March 28, MAS will be increasing frequencies to Jakarta, Bangkok, Saigon and Bangalore. There will also be additional flights to Perth, Auckland, Paris and Johannesburg. In addition, passengers flying to Brisbane will have direct flights.
Azmil added, “We are also evaluating the feasibility of introducing new destinations. We are in the process of assessing the route profitability , and will be able to share more details come the second half of the year.â€
Ian Jarrett
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