KUALA LUMPUR – AirAsia X Bhd (AAX) posted a net profit of RM153.48 million for three months ended December 31, 2022 on the back of a strong revenue of RM339.29 million by carrying 337,638 passengers, boosted by the year-end peak travel season.
There is no comparative figure as AAX’s financial period has been changed from December 31, 2020 to June 30, 2021.
A statement said the average base fare in the quarter was a record high at RM866 strengthened by the as-anticipated and continuing pent-up demand for international air travel within the region.
Ancillary revenue per passenger recorded RM196 during the quarter, up 17% compared to the same period in 2019. Passenger Load Factor (PLF) was healthy at 79%, up six percentage points from the previous quarter, and showed an over 97% recovery of the same period in 2019.
“These positive key metrics resulted in the company posting net operating profit of RM149.6 million and net profit of RM153.5 million. The company has also managed to strengthen its cash position, which stood at RM181.9 million as of December 2022,” it said in a statement here today.
For the cumulative 18 months, it recorded unusual net profit of RM32.98 billion due to write back of provisions and forgiveness of liabilities amounted to RM33.6 billion, resulting from the completion of the company’s debt restructuring on March 16, 2022.
AAX said during the period of October to December 2022, the group said there was a provision of RM600 million for travel vouchers to the passengers and travel agents.
Revenue during the period under review stood at RM878.17 million.
“On a full financial year basis, the company reported a revenue of RM878.2 million and a net profit of RM33 billion, predominantly attributable to the return of scheduled passenger flight operations in the second half of 2022 as travel restrictions eased. Driven by the return of demand after a two-year lockdown period, the company carried a total of 417,195 passengers during the year, with a healthy PLF of 78%.”
Outlook
For the year 2023, the company expects to relaunch more of its profitable destinations and looks forward to the return to China with the announcement of the reopening of the country’s border in January 2023, in addition to its planned inaugural flight to Turkey this year, its chief executive officer Benyamin Ismail said.
“Most recently in February 2023, we resumed services to Busan, South Korea, and have added more flights to the existing routes in our network,” he said in the statement.
The company is optimistic about the upward fare trend in the near term as demand for international air travel remains high.
“While we expect this to somewhat rationalise, we do not foresee the fare trend dropping beyond pre-pandemic levels. As we rise up to meet the ever-thriving demand for flights, we are diligent in ensuring that aircraft within the company’s fleet will be operational within the stipulated timeline, with all safety requirements met.
“As we speak, we are also in varying degrees of engagement with third-party aircraft lessors for induction of additional aircraft within our fleet. By the year 2024, we expect to have a total of 17 A330s within our fleet, active and operational.”
In terms of associate’s performance, the company is pleased to announce that AirAsia X Thailand (TAAX) posted a revenue of RM264.2 million, with a net profit of RM357.3 million on the back of unrealised forex gain; barring the gain, TAAX’s core net profit would be RM12.8 million.
TAAX’s cash position for the period ended December 2022 stood at RM199.3 million.
For the year, TAAX carried a total of 279,707 passengers, with a very high PLF of 88%. Beginning in June 2022, TAAX launched flights to Seoul and ended the year with additions of Tokyo-Narita, Osaka, Sapporo, Sydney and Melbourne within its network.
As of the end of December 2022, AirAsia X’s fleet size stood at 14 A330s, with seven aircraft activated and operational. TAAX’s fleet size for the same period stood at eight A330s, with five aircraft activated and operational. – Bernama, February 21, 2023
