AirAsia X load factor, passengers up in Q3

AirAsia X Bhd reported a 1% growth in the number of passengers carried to 1.51 million for the third quarter of 2018 against 1.50 million in the same period last year.

Its load factor was also 1 percentage point higher at 80% from 79%, according to the long-haul low-cost carrier’s statement.

However, AirAsia X Malaysia’s available seat kilometres (ASK) capacity fell 4% to 8.81 billion due to redeployment of capacity to the North Asia region following capacity management in Australia in February 2018 and termination of services to Teheran.

The fleet size of AirAsia X Malaysia remains at 22 Airbus A330s as at end-September 2018.

AirAsia X said during the quarter under review, there was a seasonal increase in frequency to selected destinations in Australia (Melbourne, Perth and Sydney) in July, due to term holidays there, while frequency to Honolulu, Hawaii, was ramped up to daily flights due to stronger demand.

In August, AirAsia X Malaysia commenced flights to Amritsar, its third city in India, and, in September, terminated flights to Maldives and transferred Kaohsiung to AirAsia Malaysia.

Of the associates, AirAsia X Thailand registered a load factor of 87% and carried a total of 492,205 passengers in Q3, which was a substantial increase of 36% from the previous corresponding period.

Meanwhile, AirAsia X Indonesia’s load factor stood at 80% with 108,700 passengers being carried in Q3.