KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia X Bhd registered a net profit of RM80.1 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024 (1Q24), with a margin of over eight per cent against its revenue.
The company reported revenue of RM908.9 million in 1Q24, increasing by 66 per cent year-on-year (YoY), attributed to a 90 per cent YoY surge in the number of passengers carried to 959,623, while capacity stood at about 1.15 million seats.
Driven by the strong demand arising from key festive seasons and school holidays, AirAsia X said it had posted a solid passenger load factor (PLF) of 83 per cent, up three percentage points YoY.
The best-performing routes in China, India, and Japan recorded over 90 per cent PLF, while the company's available seat kilometres (ASK) increased by 74 per cent YoY in line with solid market demand.
Driven by the commitment to accelerate and regain market leadership and following the extension of the visa-exemption policy to China until 2025, AirAsia X increased flight frequencies to its popular routes in the country, namely Chengdu, Beijing and Shanghai, on top of ramping up flight frequency to leisure favourite Bali in Indonesia.
Overall, the company delivered an 85 per cent YoY increase in the number of stages to 3,184, with total weekly flights on average, at 135 flights per week for 1Q24.
In terms of associate's performance, AirAsia X Thailand reported revenue of RM543.4 million, surging 52 per cent YoY, and posted a net profit of RM46.4 million due to a foreign exchange loss of RM55.8 million.
AirAsia X's total fleet size remained at 18 A330s as of the end of March 2024, with 16 aircraft now activated and operational.
AirAsia X Thailand's fleet size stood at seven A330s, with an additional aircraft reactivated during the quarter, bringing its fleet of activated and operational aircraft to six.
AirAsia X chief executive officer Benyamin Ismail said the company expects the two remaining aircraft to rejoin the operational fleet in July and November this year, while it works towards ensuring its fleet requirements for further growth in the future are secured.
"At present, we welcome the recent announcement of the extension of the visa-exemption policy to China until 2025.
"Since the relaunch of routes to China, PLF in the country has been strong at about mid-90 per cent, while all-new Almaty proved successful in Central Asia with over 90 per cent PLF routinely trending since its launch," he said in a statement.
Benyamin said the airline is excited about the A321XLR aircraft on its orderbook, which will bring the company's growth ambitions to fruition, as it unlocks a range of up to nine hours with a reduced cost base compared to our current fleet.
He noted that with its reduced capacity, the A321XLR gives greater flexibility for network planning and elevates even more second-tier pairing.
"This aircraft is expected to lower the break-even point for the airlines, ultimately boosting our margin.
"As it is, for 1Q24, our profit margin is robust at over eight per cent," he said.
Benyamin also said the company's Fly-Thru service connectivity stands at 22 per cent, led by Australia and India, with synergies leveraged with the broader AirAsia Group more encouraging than ever.
He added that this paves the way for the company's strong future growth ambitions. Ultimately, it leads to its ongoing engagement with Capital A Bhd for the proposed acquisition of Capital A's aviation business.
He said this acquisition is envisioned to establish an enlarged group of airlines with the 'AirAsia' brand as a global low-cost network carrier group, establishing elevated synergistic benefits through centralised decision-making and coordinated network plans.
Additionally, Benyamin also said the proposed acquisition provides all-important access to an orderbook with over 400 new specification aircraft deliveries that are currently under Capital A.
"This gives us unbounded expansion opportunities at a time when growth opportunities world over are limited due to bottlenecks in the supply chain which have, in turn, delayed aircraft delivery for us.
"In the next two quarters, we are mindful that the company is entering a traditionally softer travel period based on historical seasonality.
"However, we are encouraged by recent fare trends and cost structure, as we step up aircraft utilisation to ensure that efficiency is top-tier," he noted.