AirAsia releases preliminary operating statistics
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AirAsia has officially released its first quarter operating statistics for 2013.
The carrier, which included the figures AirAsia Philippines and AirAsia Japan for the first time, recorded a load factor of 79% with a passenger increase of 19% to around 9.8 million. The growth is in line with the 21% increase in capacity.
The past year has seen the group take on 22 aircraft to bring the fleet to 122 by the end of March.
AirAsia Group, which is made of multiple regional brands – including the aforementioned Japanese and Filipino carriers – also released the figures for its Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia companies.
Malaysia released a 79% load factor, despite taking on 2 aircraft this quarter which took its total fleet size up to 66, a year-on-year (y-o-y) rise of 9. The first two months of the year started well for the brand however March presented difficulties with the termination of the Kuala Lumpur – Colombo route as well as the Lahad Datu incident in Sabah.
The Thai brand on the other hand reported a load factor of around 87%, representing 2.6 million passengers. This is an impressive 20% increase y-o-y and being put down to an increase in domestic routes during high season.
Indonesia reported a load factor of 75% after receiving 40% new capacity y-o-y. The new volume has been spread across five new routes including Makassar to Manado and Semarang to Singapore.