AirAsia X Berhad posted its fourth consecutive net profit of RM5.5 million in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023, ending June 30 from a net loss of RM652.5 million compared to the same period last year. The company posted a registered revenue of RM512.9 million, over four times higher year-on-year (Y-O-Y) driven by the recovery of the company’s scheduled flights operations as more aircraft were brought back to service.
As of quarter ending June, the company activated 11 aircraft compared to the five during the same time last year.
“Overall, the turnover this quarter evidently marks a notable recovery rate of over 50% compared to the company’s performance in 2019, which is notable as the number of aircraft it operates remains less than half of the operational fleet number in 2019,” AirAsia said in a statement.
The company also reported a surge in seat capacity of over 26 times Y-O-Y to 818,422 seats flown as more aircraft were operational and the airline’s network was optimised as compared to Q2,2022. The company carried a total of 621,984 passengers, delivering a surge of 70 times Y-O-Y, consequently posting a healthy passenger load factor (PLF) of 76%, which is 47 percentage points higher than the 29% PLF reported for the corresponding quarter ended 30 June 2022.
The available seat kilometres (ASK) were recorded 25 times higher Y-O-Y, at 3,509 million, with a recovery rate of 42% against the corresponding period in 2019.
AirAsia X launched flights to Bangkok, Beijing and the Gold Coast, on top of establishing increased frequencies of up to seven times weekly to Sydney, between Sydney and Auckland, to Melbourne as well as to Osaka to meet the significant demand for these sectors.
The number of sectors flown by the airlines under AirAsia umbrella sweeled to 27 times as compared to same time last year. The company’s cost per available seat kilometres (CASK) has normalised compared to the preceding year, standing at 11.75 sen.
As passenger traffic for China continues its gradual recovery, the company remains optimistic about the massive potential the country has to offer for the future and already has in motion plans to ramp up operations to routes in China as demand gradually increases post the strict restriction movements for this core destination.
In terms of associate’s performance, AirAsia X Thailand (TAAX) reported overall revenue of RM351.9 million, five times higher than the same period last year and demonstrated a strong recovery of over 90% from 2019. TAAX posted net operating profit of RM33.5 million as the airline recovers. However, driven by unrealised foreign exchange losses, TAAX reported a net loss of RM73.6 million.
TAAX carried a total of 311,337 passengers, up by 28 times Y-O-Y, while ASK capacity grew by 44 times Y-O-Y to 1,805 million on the back of ramp up of TAAX’s scheduled flight operations. During the quarter under review, TAAX launched flights to Shanghai and increased flight frequency for Tokyo to 14 times weekly as to maximise the demand from the market.
Benyamin Ismail, chief executive, AirAsia X said: “We continue to focus on our consolidated growth strategy to build yield and enhance the recovery of our network capacity gradually in line with demand in our core markets as our first priority. Our revised business plan continues to highlight improvements across all key metrics. In the last 12 months, we have been prudent by reinstating services from initially two destinations and three times weekly flights. Comparatively, we now have 18 destinations with 96 weekly flights, and this exponential growth is expected to grow further as more aircraft are brought to service and connectivity with FlyThru will be further amplified.”
“In terms of fleet, we are looking at adding one aircraft to the existing fleet of 17 aircraft, bringing the total number of aircraft in the fleet to 18. We will continue to work with our business partners to ensure that all aircraft can be returned to service timely to meet our network relaunch timeline. At this juncture, we remain on track to have at least 16 aircraft operational by the final quarter of the year and are assured that we will maximise the upside from the market once the year-end peak travel season kicks in,” Ismail concluded.
Overall, in terms of the company’s financial position, AirAsia X’s cash balance was recorded at RM269 million and shareholders’ equity has increased to RM96.1 million. The company is also focused on addressing its PN17 status, and in July 2023 submitted a waiver application to Bursa Securities.
As the matter progresses, AirAsia X shall ensure that material announcements are made accordingly as per due process.