KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia Group Bhd saw a nine per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase in its total number of passengers during the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2019 (4Q19).
AirAsia said capacity had expanded 11 per cent YoY, driven by large increases in Indonesia and the Philippines.
However, load factor dipped slightly by two percentage points (ppts) to 82 per cent due to the higher capacity.
In 4Q19, AirAsia Malaysia added four per cent more capacity and carried two per cent more passengers YoY, with a softer load factor of 82 per cent due to change in pricing strategy.
The group said AirAsia Malaysia had launched two new international routes, including a new unique route to Da-Lat in Vietnam from Kuala Lumpur.
“AirAsia Malaysia also began running commercial flights with its newly delivered Airbus A321neo in November 2019.
“For the full-year 2019, AirAsia Malaysia carried eight per cent more passengers, faster than industry growth, reflecting continuing market share gain,” it said.
Overall, the group said it was another year of notable growth for its six operating units in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Japan and Thailand.
Together, they carried 12 per cent more passengers YoY, reaching a total of 83.5 million passengers.
“Capacity expansion was significant during the year at 11 per cent YoY on the back of taking 19 more aircraft, ending the year with a fleet size of 243 aircraft.
AirAsia Group said it had achieved its target load factor of 85 per cent for its six operating units.