KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia Group Bhd expects its recovery rate in Malaysia at 60 per cent of its pre-Covid-19 domestic capacity by the fourth quarter (Q4) of this year.
The projection is lower than the 70-75 per cent recovery in Malaysia by the last quarter announced in August.
The budget airline registered a 36 per cent increase in passengers carried by AirAsia Malaysia, 79 per cent increase in passengers carried by AirAsia India, and an increase of 65 per cent of passengers carried by AirAsia Thailand in Q3.
In a statement yesterday, AirAsia said AirAsia Malaysia operated 52 per cent of its domestic capacity in September, in comparison to 40 per cent in July as travel demand had been on an upward trajectory since Q2 with the easing of restrictions on interstate travel.
AirAsia Malaysia achieved a 68 per cent load factor while carrying close to 1.8 million passengers during the quarter.
Elsewhere, AirAsia Indonesia posted a load factor of 49 per cent for Q3, down by 36 percentage points compared to the same period last year.
AirAsia Indonesia's operations have gradually picked up since the resumption of services on June 19 but have remained below pre-Covid-19 levels.
AirAsia Indonesia operated 12 routes during the quarter, including five international routes namely Kuala Lumpur-Jakarta, Surabaya-Kuala Lumpur, Kualanamu-Kuala Lumpur, Penang-Kualanamu and Kuala Lumpur-Lombok.
AirAsia Indonesia also operated 20 charter flights with five aircraft being deployed for the quarter.
AirAsia Indonesia is expected to ramp up to 45 per cent of its pre-Covid-19 domestic capacity in Q4.
Thevgroup said while AirAsia Philippines operated only five per cent of last year's capacity in Q3, passenger numbers had more than doubled quarter-on-quarter.
AirAsia Thailand demonstrated a strong rebound in operations in tandem with solid domestic demand.
In September, AirAsia Thailand operated 96 per cent of pre-Covid-19 domestic capacity, compared to 59 per cent in July.
AirAsia India's performance during the quarter was commendable with 36 per cent of capacity being operated in comparison to Q3 2019.
On a month-to-month basis, in September AirAsia India operated 46 per cent of last year's capacity, reflecting a 19 percentage points increase from 27 per cent in July.
Load factor held strong at 62 per cent in Q3 as AirAsia India carried 590,873 passengers, equalling 25 per cent of last year's Q3 passengers.
"The group is optimistic with AirAsia India's performance and is looking at domestic capacity recovering to 65 per cent in Q4," it said.