AirAsia Group has reported a 19% increase in passenger traffic to 7.2 million in the first quarter of this year. Load factor rose to 81%; ASKs increased 12.5% to 10.58 billion; and RPKs rose 25.9% to 8.52 billion.
AirAsia airlines garnered a 17.2% increase in passenger numbers to 4.3 million. Thai AirAsia numbers also rose by an impressive 22.7% to 1.81 million. And Indonesia AirAsia numbers rose by 22.4% to 1.09 million. Low cost affiliate AirAsia X increased passengers by 56.5% to 640,000 for the first quarter.
AirAsia X CEO Azran Osman-Rani said: “Our continued rapid growth trajectory is testament to the breakthrough long-haul model that we have pioneered, which unlocks significant latent demand that exists between Southeast Asia and the major markets in North Asia, Australia, India, Middle East and Europe, which is unserved by traditional low-cost carriers. The longer range of our aircraft is perfectly suited for the geographically dispersed Asia/Pacific landscape.