KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 28): Budget airline AirAsia Group Bhd said today its Malaysian, Indonesian and Philippine operations carried 16% more passengers to 12.11 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2018 (4Q18) from 10.44 million a year ago,

In a statement today, AirAsia said available seat per kilometre (ASK) in 4Q18 rose 14% year-on-year (y-o-y). However, passenger load factor fell 4 percentage points (ppts) to 84% as a result of a significant increase in capacity by 21% y-o-y.

"This was in line with our strategy to continuously grow our market share," said AirAsia.

The airline noted that its Malaysian operations carried 9% y-o-y more passengers to 8.52 million in 4Q18, while it recorded a 9% y-o-y increase in ASK. Load factor was down 5 ppts to 84%, owing to a 16% increase in capacity.  

"As for AirAsia Indonesia, the eight aircraft that were previously operated by PT Indonesia AirAsia Extra have been transferred back to AirAsia Indonesia. As a result, 4Q18 numbers were higher than usual, recording a 56% y-o-y increase in passengers carried while load factor was up 3 ppts to 82%," it added.  

As for the Philippines operations, it recorded a 21% y-o-y increase in passengers carried in 4Q18, on higher capacity of 20%, while load factor was unchanged at 89%," it added.  

Meanwhile, AirAsia said its Thai, Indian and Japan operations also saw increases in passenger volume in 4Q18.

"AirAsia Thailand saw a recovery of international tourists into Thailand in 4Q18 and managed to grow passengers carried by 3% y-o-y, recording a load factor of 86%.  

"AirAsia India carried 1.9 million passengers in 4Q18, up 37% compared to the same period in 2017. Despite the aggressive capacity added, load factor was only up by 1 ppt to 86%," it added.  

AirAsia Japan saw passengers carried increase by 122% y-o-y to 70,778 passengers in 4Q18, with a load factor of 72%, up 4 ppts from the same period last year. The airline will launch its first international inaugural flight to Taipei on Feb 1, added AirAsia. 

For 2018 as a whole, total passengers handled by AirAsia's Malaysian, Indonesian and Philippine operations increased 14% to 66.26 million passengers from 58.31 million in 2017. ASK rose 14%, while load factor fell 3 ppts to 85%.

But taking all the six operations including Thailand, India and Japan, the airline said 2018 witnessed another year of tremendous growth, with total passengers carried increasing by 14% to 74.8 million passengers compared to 2017.

"The airline also significantly expanded its capacity over the year, with ASK up by 15% and managed to achieve the group’s full year load target of 85%. The group's total fleet size closed at 224 (in 2018)," it added.

 At 3.38pm, AirAsia shares were unchanged at RM3.09 today, with 3.61 million shares done, bringing a market capitalisation of RM10.33 billion.