KUALA LUMPUR, 1 March 2023: AirAsia X Berhad (AirAsia X), the mid-range affiliate airline of AirAsia Aviation Group, reports its financial results for the Sixth Quarter of 2022 (6Q22) and the full financial year 2022 (FY2022) ending 31 December 2022.
The company recorded an improvement in revenue of MYR339.3 million in 6Q22 by carrying 337,638 passengers, boosted by the year-end peak travel season. In addition, the average base fare in 6Q22 was a record-high at MYR866 strengthened by the as-anticipated and continuing pent-up demand for international air travel within the region.
Ancillary revenue per passenger marked MYR196 during the quarter, up 17% compared to the same period in 2019. Passenger Load Factor (PLF) was healthy at 79%, up six percentage points from the previous quarter, and showed an over 97% recovery of the same period in 2019. These positive key metrics resulted in the company posting a net operating profit of MYR149.6 million and a net profit of MYR153.5 million. The company has also strengthened its cash position, which stood at MYR181.9 million as of December 2022.
On the cost side, the company showed a significant improvement. The cost per Available Seat Kilometre (CASK) in 6Q22 was recorded at 9.98 sen compared to 13.49 sen in 5Q22, while CASK ex-fuel dropped substantially to 1.42 sen from 6.95 sen in 5Q22. Compared to 4Q19, both CASK and CASK ex-fuel reduced substantially by 25% and 83%, respectively, on the back of a revised cost structure post-restructuring. Revenue per Available Seat Kilometres (RASK) for the quarter stood at 19.96 sen, an increase of 13% from 5Q22, and surged by 53% compared to RASK of 13 sen in 4Q19. In 6Q22, the company launched flights to Melbourne, Perth, Sydney-Auckland, Tokyo-Haneda, Sapporo, Taipei, Jeddah and Bali-Denpasar, ending the quarter with 14 routes within its network.
On a full financial year basis, the company reported a revenue of MYR878.2 million and a net profit of MYR33 billion, predominantly attributable to the return of scheduled passenger flight operations in the second half of 2022 as travel restrictions ease. Driven by the return of demand after a two-year lockdown period, the company carried 417,195 passengers, with a healthy PLF of 78%.
Discussing the outlook for the company, AirAsia X CEO Benyamin Ismail said: “For the year 2023, the company expects to relaunch more of its profitable destinations and looks forward to the return to China with the announcement of the reopening of the country’s border in January 2023, in addition to our planned inaugural flight to Turkey this year. Most recently, in February 2023, we resumed services to Busan, South Korea, and have added more flights to the existing routes in our network.
Regarding associate’s performance, the company is pleased to announce that AirAsia X Thailand (TAAX) posted a revenue of MYR264.2 million, with a net profit of RM357.3 million on the back of unrealised forex gain, TAAX’s core net profit would be MYR12.8 million. TAAX’s cash position for the period ended December 2022 stood at MYR199.3 million.
TAAX carried 279,707 passengers, with a very high PLF of 88%. Beginning in June 2022, TAAX launched flights to Seoul and ended the year with additions of Tokyo-Narita, Osaka, Sapporo, Sydney and Melbourne within its network.
As of the end of December 2022, AirAsia X’s fleet size stood at 14 A330s, with seven aircraft activated and operational. TAAX’s fleet size for the same period stood at eight A330s, with five aircraft activated and operational.
