Budget airlines AirAsia Bhd and its long-haul carrier counterpart AirAsia X Bhd registered higher year-on-year passenger volume and load factor in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Air Asia carried 10.44 million passengers between October and December 2017, which is a 17% increase from the previous year’s 8.25 million, in line with the 16% seat capacity increase to 11.93 million.
The low-cost carrier, which saw an expansion to its fleet to 116 aircraft, also saw its load factor improve by 1% to 88% against the 87% registered in the same quarter in 2016.
Meanwhile, its Malaysian operations reported a 15% increase in passenger volume to 7.79 million from 6.76 million in the quarter under review.
AirAsia commenced 10 new routes, five originating from Malaysia, two from the Philippines and three from India, while AirAsia Japan commenced its first flight on October 29, 2017, flying between Nagoya and Sapporo.
On another note, AirAsia X carried 1.54 million passengers in the last quarter of 2017, translating into a 12% increase from the fourth quarter of 2016. Load factor improved 2% to 83% while capacity expanded 10% to 1.87 million from 1.7 million.s