AirAsia’s earnings grow almost six-fold

Tourists walk past an AirAsia advertisement at Kuala Lumpur Sentral railway station in Kuala Lumpur on May 26, 2016. Malaysia's Budget carrier AirAsia was expected to announce its first quarter results on the back of lower oil prices on May 26. / AFP PHOTO / MOHD RASFAN

KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia Bhd posted an almost six-fold increase in its earnings for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016 to RM877.8mil, mainly due to higher revenue and lower fuel price.

The low-cost airline said the surge in its net profit was attributed to a 31% increase in revenue to RM1.7bil, as well as a 29% drop in the average fuel price to US$56 from US$79 per barrel a year ago.

In its announcement to Bursa Malaysia on Thursday, AirAsia said its increase in revenue was supported by a 17% growth in passenger volume and higher average fare, up 11% at RM166 as compared to RM150 in the first quarter last year.

Ancillary income per passenger, it said, had also increased by 5% to RM50 year-on-year, while the seat load factor was at 85%, 10 percentage points higher than a year ago.

The group said its total debt as at end of March 2016 was RM10.9bil and its net debt after offsetting cash balances amounted to RM9.2bil.

Moving forward, AirAsia said it expected to continue seeing strong demands in the second quarter in Malaysia, with an average load factor forecast of 88%.