Air Asia parent company reports fourth quarter loss

Capital A, the parent company of Malaysian budget airline AirAsia, saw a net loss of 159.6 million ringgit ($33.6 million) for the fourth quarter of 2023, down from its fourth quarter net profit of 109.9 million ringgit ($23.2 million) in 2022. Revenue for the fourth quarter was at 818.2 million ringgit ($172.4 million). The company reported its first annual profit since the Covid pandemic with a full year net profit 507.6 million ringgit ($106.94 million), up from its annual net loss of 3.3bn ringgit ($695.3 million) in 2022. Full year revenue was 2.5bn ringgit ($526.8 million). ""After all we have endured during the pandemic-enforced shutdown of all of our commercial operations,"" said AirAsia X CEO Benyamin Ismail, ""the company has close to 90% of its full fleet operational, and now we expect the final two aircraft to re-join our operations by the first half of the year."" The company noted that it experienced higher operating costs due to aircraft reactivation, which was heightened by higher jet fuel prices and its currency performing weaker against the US dollar.