KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 — AirAsia Group Bhd’s consolidated air operator’s certificate (AOC) reported a 9 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in total passengers carried to 13.17 million in the fourth quarter (Q4) ended Dec 31, 2019.
Capacity expanded by 11 per cent YoY, driven by large increases in Indonesia and the Philippines. However, load factor dipped slightly by two percentage points to 82 per cent due to the higher capacity.
In a statement today, the group said AirAsia Malaysia added 4 per cent more capacity and carried 2 per cent more passengers YoY, with a softer load factor of 82 per cent due to change in pricing strategy.
It said AirAsia Indonesia’s capacity increased 32 per cent compared with Q4 2018 while AirAsia Philippines posted a robust capacity growth of 27 per cent YoY following the introduction of a new route.
AirAsia Japan’s capacity expanded by 94 per cent while available seat kilometres (ASK) rose by 74 per cent following the launch of its third route, Nagoya-Sendai in the third quarter last year.
Meanwhile, AirAsia India reported a remarkable growth as total passengers carried rose by 39 per cent YoY on the back of a 38 per cent expansion in capacity.
However, AirAsia Thailand’s capacity declined 2 per cent YoY as it continued to focus on capacity realignment and route rationalisation to enhance efficiency and better match demand, the group said.
For the whole of 2019, AirAsia’s six AOCs saw notable growth, carrying 12 per cent more passengers YoY to reach 83.5 million passengers.
Capacity expansion rose 11 per cent in 2019 on the back of taking 19 more aircraft, ending the year with a fleet size of 243 aircraft.
AirAsia Group successfully achieved its target load factor of 85 per cent for the six AOCs. — Bernama
