AirAsia Berhad has posted a 43.7% fall in second-quarter net profit to MYR243 million ($64.3 million) compared to the same period last year. The airline has blamed the steep fall on unrealized foreign-exchange losses on borrowings and one-off costs related to the sale and leaseback of aircraft during the reporting period.
Revenue rose slightly by 1.1% to MYR1.32 billion. Operating expenses were up by the same amount to MYR1.08 billion, resulting in an operating profit of MYR243.5 million – an increase of 39.8%.
AirAsia has benefited from the fall in the fuel price and group CEO Tony Fernandes said that the group has now hedged hedged 50% of its fuel requirements for 2015 at an average cost $88 per barrel and remains unhedged for 2016.
Traffic growth was a steady 6.7% to 5.95 million passengers, with RPKs up 6.8% YOY to 7.26 billion on the back of a 6.6% increase in capacity to 9.1 billion ASKs. The load factor for the quarter was 79.8%.