PETALING JAYA: Capital A Bhd (formerly known as AirAsia Group Bhd) said in financial year 2022 (FY22) it had achieved 46% - 47% pre-pandemic capacity and number of passengers carried.
“The group, including AirAsia Thailand, achieved an annual load factor of 84% by flying 34.2 million passengers on 126 aircraft contributing to a 358% increase in Available-Seat-Kilometres (ASK),” the group said in a statement announcing its operating statistics for aviation, digital and logistics segments for Q4’22.
For the full year of 2022, AirAsia Malaysia achieved a pre-covid load factor of 84% while carrying 48% of FY19 passengers at 16.8 million.
AirAsia Indonesia posted a lower load factor of 78% in Q4’22, down by three ppts y-o-y and four ppts QoQ owing to a notable 43% y-o-y capacity increase in the market. AirAsia Indonesia seats sold on international flights soared sharply by 7397% y-o-y and 36% q-o-q, contributed by 4,896 flights in the quarter owing to a higher capacity split for international flights.
The Jakarta - Penang route recorded the highest load factor at 96%. The number of seats sold for domestic flights was up by 126% y-o-y and down by 33% q-o-q. For FY22, AirAsia Indonesia flew 3.25 million passengers with close to 23,000 flights on 16 operational aircraft.
In the final quarter of 2022, AirAsia Philippines recorded a load factor of 87% up by two ppts y-o-y and down by two ppt q-o-q, yet still higher than the Q4’19 load factor of 85%. Passengers carried increased by 307% y-o-y and capacity by 298% y-o-y which drove robust growth in ASK by 387% y-o-y. For FY22, AirAsia Philippines flew 4.2 million passengers, equivalent to 49% of pre-covid passengers carried, resulting in a load factor of 89%, the highest among all AOCs.
Its associate airline, AirAsia Thailand achieved the highest quarterly load factor of 90%, up 14 ppts y-o-y and three ppts q-o-q with domestic and international load factors of 91% and 86%.
AirAsia Thailand’s saw sharp climb in seats sold for international flights from 1,413 seats in the same period last year to more than one million seats in Q4’22, leveraging pent-up demand and new destinations launched.
AirAsia Thailand operated 42 aircraft to 24 domestic and 38 international destinations. This is an additional seven aircraft from the previous quarter, which brings their active fleet to 72% of FY19's total operating aircraft. AirAsia Thailand’s capacity and passengers carried returned to 72% and 75% of Q4’19 levels respectively.
The aviation segment remains on a recovery path post-pandemic transition with added impetus from the rapid resumption of international travel.
Benchmarked against the corresponding pre-covid performance in Q4’19, Capital A’s consolidated airlines had recovered passenger volume faster than capacity restoration in Q4’22.
The consolidated airlines carried over 7.8 million passengers in Q4’22, an increase of 187% year-on-year (y-o-y) on the back of 9.1 million seat capacity injected during the quarter leading to a consistent quarter-on-quarter 86% load factor.
In Q4’22, the school holidays, festive seasons and general election peak periods led to the consolidated airlines achieving almost 50,000 flights, up by 171% y-o-y.
The consolidated airlines operated 84 aircraft, an additional 16 operating aircraft from the preceding quarter.
Correspondingly, ASK grew by 258% y-o-y to about 10 billion, approaching 53% of pre-covid ASK in the same period, while Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK) reached 54% of the Q4’19 level.
For FY22, the consolidated airlines saw an increase in the number of passengers to 24.2 million, up by 404% y-o-y, exceeding the jump in the capacity of 345% y-o-y.
This resulted in an 84% load factor, one percentage point (ppt) away from achieving a pre-covid load factor.
Seats sold for international flights continued to surge by 3536% y-o-y as international borders reopened alongside the loosening of travel restrictions regionally, while seats sold for domestic flights were up by 290% y-o-y.
ASK and RPK rose by 410% and 488% y-o-y respectively, in tandem with the increase in capacity and passengers carried.
At 87%, AirAsia Malaysia’s Q4’22 load factor improved by one ppt from the preceding quarter and five ppts from Q4’19.
Compared to Q4’21, 38 additional international destinations were resumed in the same period this year, contributing to a surge in seats sold for international flights by 6424% y-o-y and 26% q-o-q.
In total, AirAsia Malaysia flew to 17 domestic destinations and 48 international destinations in 4Q2022.
