AirAsia suffers 85% drop in passengers carried

 

AirAsia Malaysia operated at 52% of its domestic capacity in September.

KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia Group Bhd’s total number of passengers carried dropped by 85% to 1.91 million during the third quarter of 2020 from 13 million in the same quarter last year.

Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, the load factor for the group decreased to 66%, the airline group said in its quarterly report to the stock exchange.

On a monthly basis, the low-cost carrier said its key operational metrics improved in September compared to July with higher passengers carried recorded in its operations in Malaysia, India and Thailand, which increased by 36%, 79% and 65% respectively.

It said load factor for the group increased 7.0 percentage points in September compared to July.

“These improvements highlight a strong upward rebound trend for air travel demand across key markets for the group,” it said.

AirAsia Malaysia operated at 52% of its domestic capacity in September, in comparison to 40% in July as travel demand has been on an upward trajectory since the second quarter, with the easing of restrictions on interstate travel.

AirAsia Malaysia achieved a 68% load factor, while carrying close to 1.8 million passengers during the quarter.

While capacity has been reduced in October given the conditional movement control order by the government, AirAsia Malaysia is striving to recover to 60% of its pre-Covid domestic capacity by the fourth quarter.

AirAsia Indonesia’s load factor was down by 36 ppts to 49% in 3Q20 while AirAsia Philippines operated at only five per cent of last year’s capacity in the reviewed quarter. - FMT