AirAsia Group Berhad has official been renamed as Capital A Berhad, to better reflect the company’s new core business strategy as an investment holding company with a portfolio of synergistic travel and lifestyle businesses.
CEO of Capital A, Tony Fernandes said: “This is not just about unveiling a new logo. It’s a significant milestone that marks a new era for the Group. [This] announcement reinforces we are not just an airline anymore.
“While the airline will always underpin the AirAsia brand, it has long been my firm intention, well before Covid hit, to leverage the strong data we have built up over 20 years and incorporate industry-leading new technologies to offer a broad range of products and services, over and above selling just airfares. The pandemic has allowed us to accelerate that strategy.
“Our brand has continuously evolved based on driving innovation and meeting ever changing consumer demand. The strategy behind the change of name is to introduce a new corporate identity that better reflects the Group’s core businesses today and its future undertakings, in tandem with our rapid transformation from an airline into a one-stop digital travel and lifestyle services group. We believe that the new company name will also further enhance the marketability of our products and boost the success of our Group for the long haul.
“Essentially Capital A is an investment company with a broad portfolio of businesses which all deliver the best value at the lowest cost, supported by strong data built up over two decades. We also have one of Asia's leading brands to ride on, a strong people-first culture and an underlying promise of remaining committed to serving the underserved in all that we do. Just like what the airline has done from day one, all of our different lines of business will deliver the same strategy that is underscored by doing what we do best - making travel and everyday lifestyle services affordable, accessible and inclusive to all.
“All of our portfolio businesses are well on the way to becoming industry leaders in their respective fields across Southeast Asia, including BigPay, our aircraft engineering division Asia Digital Engineering (ADE) and logistics venture Teleport.
On the airline, Tony commented: “While Capital A will be the new Group holding company name, one thing that isn’t changing is the AirAsia brand name for our airlines. It’s one of the strongest brands in Asia and provides a solid platform for all of our other products and services to leverage from each other.
“Even though the last two years have been the most difficult and disrupted years in the history of commercial aviation, I welcome the year ahead with much greater confidence. Domestic air travel has already started to rebound in our key markets. While there may be some delays for international flights to return to pre-Covid levels due to the Omicron variant, I believe this will be short-lived as many global health experts are also predicting, alongside accelerated vaccines and booster shots as well as the world gradually learning to live with Covid. I am hopeful borders will reopen gradually throughout 2022 and we will see a return to normal capacity for our international services by the middle to third quarter of this year.
“Over the past two years we have spent the downturn in flying building a solid foundation for a viable and successful future, which is not solely reliant on airfares alone. Capital A signals an exciting new era for our airlines and all of our other portfolio businesses within the Group as we embark on a significant new growth phase.
“Importantly, the best is yet to come. We have pivoted, we have transformed and we have a five year plan in place which will see non airline revenues contributing around 50 percent of overall Group revenue by 2026. Once the airlines return to pre-Covid levels in the near future all of our other lines of business will benefit significantly and will all soar to new heights in tandem with one another.”
Before the name change, AirAsia Group Berhad reported the operating statistics for its airline business for the fourth quarter of 2021 (4Q2021) and the full financial year ended 31 December 2021 (“FY2021”).
AirAsia Group Berhad Consolidated AOCs recorded the highest quarterly load factor and capacity at 80% and 3.4million respectively in 4Q2021 since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Passengers carried increased 103% to 2.7million year-on-year (YoY) in 4Q2021 which surpassed the capacity increase of 70%, leading to a 13 percentage points (ppts) improvement in load factor to 80%. Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) grew by 72% YoY, primarily attributable to strong demand from the introduction of quarantine free travel bubbles for Malaysia and the easing of travel restrictions in 4Q2021.
In FY2021, the load factor for the Consolidated AOCs remained healthy at 74% with strategies implemented to manage the multiple disruptive lockdowns imposed by respective governments. The improved monthly performance of passengers carried and additional capacity across the group indicate a V-shaped resumption trend in air travel demand throughout 2021. Additionally, the Group states that it is expecting to see a surge in demand following the recent announcements that the Thai government is resuming its quarantine-free travel scheme from 1st February 2022 and the Malaysia government resumed the Vaccinated Travel Lane (“VTL”) between Malaysia and Singapore on 24 January 2022.
AirAsia Malaysia passengers carried and capacity has increased by 164% and 139% respectively as compared to the same quarter in previous year off the back of rising demand after the reopening of state borders announced by the Government of Malaysia. Load factor increased by 7ppts YoY and 19ppts QoQ to 80% in conjunction with the year-end festive season and increased frequencies on high demand routes including between Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi, followed by the Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu route in November and December 2021.
AirAsia Indonesia posted a commendable load factor of 87% in December 2021, 81% for the quarter which grew 22ppts YoY. This was driven by an increased frequency of flights in line with growing demand, particularly in December 2021. Passengers carried in the last month of the year rose nearly seven-fold compared to November 2021.
AirAsia Philippines continued to outperform in 4Q2021 with seats sold in 4Q2021 doubling from 3Q2021. In YoY comparison, capacity increased by 126%. In 4Q21, the load factor reached its highest quarterly performance outcome in 2021 at 85%, jumping by 21 ppts YoY. This was achieved from strong pent-up demand in a number of core destinations including Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Boracay, and Tacloban. ASK soared 114% YoY to 285 million from 133 million.
For 4Q2021, AirAsia Thailand operated more domestic capacity than in the previous quarter, on the back of robust demand. AirAsia Thailand carried 1.15million passengers. Load factor rose to 78% in December 2021. AirAsia Thailand has reallocated its capacity and flights to align with the gradual improvement in demand. As a result, the load factor in 4Q2021 was 76%, or increased 2 ppts from the same period last year, despite the spread of the Omicron variant that began in late December. For FY2021, domestic travel demand rebounded in March 2021 after the first vaccination drive was rolled out in Thailand. However, Thailand infection cases rose in July 2021 and in compliance with the state containment effort, AirAsia Thailand announced a temporary suspension of domestic operations between 12 July 2021 and 2 September 2021. For the full year, the total number of passengers carried was 2.93million, declining by 69% YoY, in line with the deduction of ASK and capacity. In FY2021, load factor was reported at 68% with a total fleet of 60 aircraft.