KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 26): AirAsia Group Bhd's consolidated aircraft operating certificates (AOCs) comprising Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines saw total passengers increase by 9% in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2018 to 10.8 million, from 9.89 million a year earlier, on higher capacity.

In a statement today, AirAsia Group said capacity or number of seats flown recorded by the consolidated AOCs rose 16% to 13.23 million seats from 11.4 million seats a year ago.

"AirAsia Group Consolidated AOCs posted a load factor of 82% year-on-year, down five percentage points as a result of significant capacity increase and 10% Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) growth in order for AirAsia to continuously grow its market share and to meet travel demands," it said.

In the quarter under review, AirAsia Group consolidated AOCs' total fleet size grew to 127 aircraft comprising 90 in Malaysia (AirAsia Bhd), 16 in Indonesia (PT AirAsia Indonesia Tbk) and 21 in the Philippines (Philippines AirAsia Inc).

Individually, AirAsia Group said passengers carried by its Malaysia operations rose 7%, while Indonesia and Philippines rose 5% and 23% respectively.

"Malaysia recorded a 9% increase year-on-year in ASK, whilst passengers carried grew by 7% to 7.98 million. Load factor decreased 4 percentage points to 83% year-on-year as a result of tighter competition during the leaner quarter," it said.

AirAsia Group, which also has operations in Thailand, India and Japan, saw the number of passengers carried in these countries during the quarter rise by 4%, 36% and 41% respectively year-on-year.

Shares of AirAsia Group closed down six sen or 2.46% to RM2.38, with 8.94 million shares done for a market capitalisation of RM7.95 billion.