KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 — AirAsia Group Bhd’s consolidated air operator’s certificate (AOCs) recorded an 18 per cent increase in total passengers carried to 12 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2019 over the same period last year.
In its preliminary operating statistics, AirAsia said it posted strong growth for the first quarter this year, driven by a substantial increase in capacity of 17 per cent year-on-year, while load factor held strong at 88 per cent.
“Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) grew by 11 per cent year-on-year as the company added new routes and frequencies for both domestic and international routes to further grow its market share,” it said.
It said Malaysia added substantial capacity of 11 per cent with most of the seats sold as passengers carried was up by 10 per cent to 8.7 million pax year-on-year and load factor held strong at 87 per cent.
For the quarter under review, AirAsia’s Indonesian operations reported 66 per cent higher total passengers carried while load factor was at 87 per cent.
Its Philippine operations added 17 per cent in capacity on new international routes, which caused load factor to grow to 91 per cent, while AirAsia Thailand’s ASK was up by 10 per cent year-on-year and a strong load factor of 90 per cent.
“India further expanded its capacity by 23 per cent year-on-year to further grow its domestic market share. Total passengers carried surpassed the added capacity by nine percentage points and recorded a strong load of 89 per cent.
“Japan recorded strong operational improvements from the same quarter in 2018. Passengers carried grew a whopping 80 per cent, on the back of 79 per cent capacity added year-on-year,” it added. — Bernama
