AirAsia X Passengers In FY17 Up 25 Pct To 5.84 Mln

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 (Bernama) – AirAsia X Bhd (AAX) flew 5.84 million passengers in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2017 (FY17), a 25 per cent increase from 4.69 million in FY16. In its preliminary operating statistics released Friday, the long-haul budget airline said, capacity rose 21 per cent to 7.15 million versus 5.94 million previously. On a quarterly basis, it said, the overall operating performance improved in the fourth quarter of 2017 (4Q17) year-on-year (y-o-y), with a 12 per cent y-o-y increase in the number of passengers, equivalent to 1.55 million passengers. Meanwhile, the company’s available seat kilometres grew by eight per cent in 4Q17 to 9.15 million compared to the same period last year. “During the quarter, AirAsia X Malaysia had increased its flight frequencies to five routes, namely, Xi’an, Sapporo, Incheon, Busan and Taipei, encouraged by year-end peak season demand,” it said. The budget airline said it has also added Jeju to its routes in December, while its fleet size remained at 22 A330s aircraft as at end-December. Its associate, AirAsia X Thailand, showed an improvement as it recovered from the short-term impact on the tourism sector following the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and the Thai government’s crackdown on zero-dollar tours from China. “For the quarter under review, AirAsia X Thailand carried a total of 445,137 passengers, surging by 27 per cent compared to the same quarter in 2016,” it said, adding that its fleet size remained at six aircraft. Meanwhile, AirAsia X Indonesia’s operations were temporarily hampered in 4Q17 due to Mount Agung’s volcanic activity in Bali, which started at the end of September and throughout December. It said AirAsia X Indonesia had carried a total of 113,792 passengers for the quarter while its passenger load factor stood at 69 per cent. AirAsia X Indonesia fleet size remained at two A330s, bringing AirAsia X Group total fleet to 30 as at end-December 2017. – BERNAMA