This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on May 2, 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: Budget airline AirAsia Bhd carried 9% more passengers in the first quarter of this year (1Q17) compared with the same period last year on the back of new routes and increased frequencies.

In a statement yesterday, AirAsia said it carried 15.23 million passengers in 1Q17 from 13.94 million in 1Q16 on a 5% increase in capacity.

Its load factor also rose by three percentage points (ppts) to 89% in 1Q17 and it expanded its available seat kilometres (ASK) by 4% to 20.62 million from 19.79 million in 1Q16.

Passenger traffic, measured by revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), climbed 8% to 18.19 million from 16.77 million in 1Q16.

AirAsia’s total fleet stood at 176 as at March 31, 2017.

The number of passengers carried by Malaysia AirAsia (MAA) rose 6% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 6.85 million in 1Q17. Frequencies were added to the Kuala Lumpur-Maldives, Kuala Lumpur-Penang, Johor Baru-Penang, Johor Baru-Kuala Lumpur, Kuching-Sibu, Kuching-Bintulu; Kota Kinabalu-Kuala Lumpur, and Kota Kinabalu-Tawau routes during the current quarter under review.

MAA achieved a load factor of 90% in 1Q17, up 5ppts from 1Q16, while capacity rose 1% y-o-y. MAA ended the first quarter with 77 aircraft.

Thai AirAsia (TAA) carried 11% more passengers to 4.85 million in 1Q17, outstripping the 9% growth in capacity. It posted a load factor of 89% in 1Q17, up 1ppt y-o-y.

In 1Q17, TAA started operating two new domestic routes comprising Pattaya (Utapao)-Ubon Ratchathani and Pattaya (Utapao)-Phuket. It also added frequencies on the Bangkok (Don Mueang)-Mandalay route.

Philippines AirAsia’s total passenger load carried in 1Q17 was also up 19% to 1.15 million. Capacity increased by 13%.

However, Indonesia AirAsia saw the number of passengers carried in 1Q17 fall 4% to 1.53 million, along with a 7% reduction in capacity.

Meanwhile, AirAsia India saw the number of passengers carried increased by 57% y-o-y to 844,964 in 1Q17 from 538,800 in 1Q16, with a 50% increase in capacity.

Three new routes were launched, namely Delhi-Srinagar, Delhi-Bagdogra and Delhi-Pune, while flight frequency was increased for its Delhi-Goa route.

AirAsia shares closed up three sen or 0.9% at RM3.35 last Friday, and market capitalisation stood at RM11.2 billion.