SEPANG (June 4): Nine directors of AirAsia X Bhd (AAX), which now aims to return to the black in the second half of this year, have agreed to forfeit their director's fees amounting to RM434,658 for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2014 (FY14) at its annual general meeting (AGM) today.

"I think we have to be with the shareholders, and that's why we have decided to forfeit the fees," AAX group chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Kamaruddin Meranun told reporters after the meeting.

The nine directors comprised Kamaruddin, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Datuk Seri Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan, Lim Kian Onn, Datuk Fam Lee Ee, Tan Sri Asmat Kamaludin, Datuk Yusli Mohamad Yusoff and Kiyotaka Tanaka.

Kamaruddin also said two of AAX's directors, namely Kiyotaka and Kalimullah, have offered not to remain on the board.

"Kiyotaka chose not to remain as a board member as he has been transferred to another place, while Kalimullah was not feeling well and was hospitalised," he added.

Meanwhile, AAX acting CEO Benyamin Ismail said he is optimistic that the long-haul low-cost airline will return to profit in the second half of this year on cost reduction in the human resources and engineering segments through synergising the commonality of the operations with its sister airline AirAsia Bhd.

"We have started our integration with AirAsia Bhd starting this year. So far, we have integrated the human resource department and ground operations with AirAsia.

"Next stage, we are looking at the engineering department, which we target to save at least 8% operating expenses per year," Benyamin added.

Benyamin also said the airline does not see any requirement to hire any new manpower, but assured that there will be no job cuts.

For the first quarter ended March 31, 2015 (1QFY15), AAX saw its net loss widen to RM125.9 million from RM11.3 million in 1QFY14. Revenue for the quarter came in at RM775.4 million, up 3.5% year-on-year, driven by higher income from its charter, wet leases and aircraft operating lease income from Thai AirAsia X Co Ltd and Indonesia AirAsia X.

AAX (fundamental: 0.2; valuation: 0.8) shares have lost 78.4% since the airline made its debut on Bursa Malaysia in July 2013 at an initial public offering price of RM1.25. As at 2.30pm, AAX's stock was traded unchanged at 27 sen.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)