KUALA LUMPUR (April 28): AirAsia X Bhd’s (AAX) passenger load factor has declined to 74% in the first quarter of this year (1Q2020), down by nine percentage points year-on-year (y-o-y), the group revealed today.

The passenger load factor measures the capacity use of the airline's service and is generally used to assess how efficiently it fills seats and generates revenue.

In a statement on its preliminary 1Q2020 operating statistics, AAX said it carried 1.14 million passengers during the quarter, 25% less y-o-y compared with 1.51 million previously, while its available seats per kilometre (ASK) capacity retreated by 21% y-o-y to 6.87 billion from 8.71 billion.

As for the number of kilometres travelled by paying passengers or revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), that declined 28% y-o-y to 5.18 billion from 7.21 billion.

The long-haul budget airline said the significant drop in available capacity and passengers carried is a result of the severe impact of Covid-19 which has affected travel demand globally and led it to reduce flight frequencies and temporarily suspend certain routes to mitigate the problem.

In particular, AAX's Malaysian operations reduced flight frequencies to China during the onset of the coronavirus in February, as travel restrictions tightened and demand softened.

“In the following month, capacity management had been executed in almost 90% of the company’s network, including Australia, Japan, South Korea and India. A total of four routes were terminated in March, namely Tianjin, Wuhan, Lanzhou and Jaipur.

“By proactively managing the adverse effects of the pandemic and to contain operational costs, AirAsia X Malaysia announced the temporary hibernation of its entire fleet and suspended all scheduled operations for a period of two months effective March 28,” it added.

AAX Malaysia's fleet size remains at 24 Airbus A330s as at end-March.

As for its Thai operations, AAX said it charted a passenger load factor of 77%, down 13 percentage points y-o-y, while ASK capacity fell 22% y-o-y to 2.65 billion, with 474,150 passengers carried.

Following the outbreak of Covid-19 and the subsequent travel restrictions in almost all regions, AirAsia X Thailand announced the suspension of all scheduled operations for a period of three months effective March 16, 2020, it said.

As at end-March, AAX Thailand’s fleet size remained at 14 A330s, which means the group's total fleet size, including two aircraft with AAX Indonesia — which remain in suspension — is at 40.