Malaysia Airlines sees decline in Q4 load factor, passengers carried

Malaysia Airlines Bhd’s (MAB) passenger load factor for the fourth quarter (Q4) ended Dec 31, 2017 dipped to 77% from 81% a year ago with a 10.5% drop in the number of passengers carried from 3.8 million to 3.4 million.

Despite that, Q4 passenger yield was the highest during the year at 23.6 sen, which offset the slight reduction in load factor and also resulted in a 2% improvement in revenue per available seat kilometre (RASK) from 21.6 sen to 22.1 sen.

Domestic and international passenger load factor stood at 70.5% and 78%, respectively.

Malaysia Airlines Group (MAG) CEO Izham Ismail said in a statement that the group is firmly anchored to the MAS Recovery Plan and he is happy to see steady progress continue in the fourth quarter.

“A concerted focus on yield in the second half of the year has seen an overall improvement in yield and RASK bucking the general downward trend of other regional players.”

Overall he said the airline underperformed against budget compared to the previous year, due to a weaker first half impacted by a weak pricing strategy as well as the hike in exchange rates and fuel.

“MAB did recover in the second half with closer oversight on yield management and ended the year in a stronger position. Moving forward, we will continue to focus on and drive yield to cushion the group from rising fuel costs and forex volatility,” he added.

On outlook, Izham said Southeast Asia has strong traffic growth, but overcapacity remains a challenge, pressuring yields.

“MAB maintains its cautious outlook in the fiscal year of 2018. While the economy is anticipated to be resilient, MAG anticipates that supply and capacity pressure will continue to put a stress on yields although the effect for 2018 is expected to be moderate. The group will continue to be prudent and agile in controlling capacity and has already scaled back on domestic route frequencies allocating aircraft where the best potential returns are seen.”