This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 11, 2015.

KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia Bhd carried 20% more passengers for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 (3QFY15) at 12.88 million from 10.74 million a year ago, in line with the increase in capacity of 15%.

In a statement on Monday, the airline said passenger load factor also rose 3 percentage points (ppt) to 81% in 3QFY15 compared with 78% in 3QFY14.

“At the end of the quarter under review, the group’s total fleet size stood at 168 Airbus A320s,” it added.

On an individual market basis, AirAsia Malaysia carried 6.3 million passengers in 3QFY15, up 19% from 5.29 million passengers a year ago, in line with a 11% capacity increase.

“Air Asia Malaysia’s load factor stood at 82% for 3QFY15, up 5 ppts from 77% in 3QFY14,” it added.

As at Sept 30, Air Asia Malaysia operated a fleet of 81 aircraft.

AirAsia Thailand also saw the number of passengers carried rise 26% to 3.58 million in 3QFY15 from 2.85 million in 3QFY14, matching the 27% increase in capacity resulting from the improvement in the political situation in Thailand.

AirAsia Thailand’s load factor, however, was down 1 ppt to 81% in the July-September 2015 period, and took delivery of one additional aircraft, bringing the total to 44.

AirAsia Indonesia reported a 9% decline in the number of passengers carried to 1.68 million in 3QFY15 from 1.85 million in 3QFY14, as it continued with its rationalisation plan which included a reduction in capacity by 4% and redeployment of aircraft to other short-haul associates.

AirAsia Indonesia’s load factor was also 4 ppts lower at 75% in 3QFY15 compared with 79% a year ago.

AirAsia Philippines, meanwhile, carried 901,957 passengers during the three months, up 46% from 617,878 passengers in 3QFY14, in line with a 14% increase in capacity. Load factor grew 19 ppts to 84% from 65%.

AirAsia India saw passenger numbers surged 225% to 416,182 in 3QFY15 from 128,089 a year ago, supported by a 221% increase in capacity. Load factor also grew 1 ppt to 76% in 3QFY15.

In a separate statement, AirAsia X Bhd (AAX), the long-haul, low cost affiliate of AirAsia, said it carried 14% less passengers in the Malaysian market to 901,884 in 3QFY15 from 1.04 million in 3QFY14, on the back of a 7% drop in capacity.

Load factor also dipped 6 ppts to 75% in 3QFY15 from 81% a year ago, mainly due to the spillover effect from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak since May which had resulted in passenger traffic from Kuala Lumpur to Seoul and Busan falling by 14% year-on-year in 3QFY15.

AAX’s available-seat-km also dropped 9% year-on-year to 5,770 million in 3QFY15, while its revenue-passenger-km recorded a 16% decrease to 4,333 million.

AAX operated 26 A330s as at Sept 30, with 20 based in Malaysia, four in Thailand and two in Indonesia.

AirAsia shares fell 7 sen or 4.86% to close at RM1.37 on Monday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM3.81 billion, while AAX shares closed unchanged at 20.5 sen, valuing it at RM850.37 million.