AirAsia X has reported a net loss during the third quarter of MYR211 million ($62.7 million), compared to a profit of MYR26.4 million in Q32013. Revenue rose by 16% to MYR698.76 but the airline’s operating expenses rose 43% during the reporting period to MYR842.53 million. This produced an operating loss of MYR140 million, compared to a profit in the year-ago period of MYR24.95.
AirAsia X blamed a softening of demand in its home market although it hopes that a general capacity slowdown in the region could help fourth quarter figures.
Passenger numbers rose by 23.8% to just over one million people, with RPKs rising 21.3% to 5.13 billion and ASKs up 23.9% to 6.36 million. Load factor fell by 1.7 percentage points to 80.6%.
AirAsia X CEO Azran Osman-Rani said: “Our third-quarter financial performance was set back by the second shock suffered by the aviation industry in July and the resultant demand slowdown. However, we have seen the critical measure of year-on-year yield rebounding back into positive growth by September and October. With the observed rationalization of industry capacity and the significant drop in global fuel prices in recent weeks, we expect this positive momentum to contribute to a turnaround this current fourth quarter.”
“The growth strategy for 2015 will shift to a consolidation phase, where no new aircraft capacity to be allocated to core routes in Malaysia’s network in 2015, although ASK capacity is expected to increase by 5% vs. 2014 due to the 12-month effect of capacity introduced mid-2014,” Azran said. “Capacity allocation in 2015 will see a drop in the number of flights to Australia, while North Asia and other regions will see an increase in number of flights.”