BANGKOK, 14 May 2018: Nok Air reduced losses in the first quarter of this year to improve its bottom line financial results.
Consolidated losses in the January-March 2018 narrowed to THB 26.88 million from THB 295.57 million in the same period last year.
Revenue grew by 5.6% over the same quarter of last year to THB 4.32 billion, while the average cost per seat declined.
Cabin factor and passenger uplift improved despite a substantial rise in fuel costs.
“The result is better than expected and it clearly shows that our business turnaround plan is bearing fruit and we are on a course to recovery,” Nok Air CEO Piya Yodmani said.
Adoption of new marketing initiatives allowed Nok Air to capture several market segments, increased competitiveness.
There was stricter cost control enforcement, productivity enhancement that contributed to improved financial result.
Those improvements allowed Nok Air to better deal with the 23.2% increase in fuel costs over the first quarter period, Piya noted.
The airline was able to fill more seats in the quarter, thus achieving an average cabin factor of 93.8%, 6.1 points higher than last year in the same quarter.
The airline carried 3.83% more passengers with a tally of 2.52 million, up from 2.43 million in the same period last year, thanks to the surge in passengers mainly from China.
Passenger numbers on the Chinese routes jumped 149.57% to 235,363, up from 94,308, as the airline boosted its Chinese coverage to 19 cities from eight in the same quarter of 2017.
As a result, contribution of revenue from the Chinese operation to the airline’s overall income was at 19.82%, compared to 7.51% in the same quarter last year.
The quarter saw Nok Air increased aircraft use by 21.5% to 10 hours per aircraft per day from 8.23 hours, contributing to higher productivity.
At the end of the quarter, Nok Air operated a fleet of 29 aircraft, down from 31 a year ago. The airline added two domestic routes in the first quarter to give it 25 routes both domestic and in international.
