PETALING JAYA: Capital A Bhd
, formerly AirAsia Group Bhd, anticipates stronger air passenger traffic in conjunction with the festive period and school holidays in the final quarter of its financial year ending Dec 31, 2022 (4Q22).
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, the low-cost carrier stated as of end-November, it expects to resume 86% of pre-pandemic domestic capacity and 60% of international capacity, by utilising 124 aircraft.
“The group is taking all measures possible to return the grounded fleet back into service, with a projection of 140 operational aircraft by end of this year, and full operations by 2Q23,” it said.
It remained conscious of the jet fuel price and foreign currency impact due to the depreciation of currencies of Asean countries against the US dollar.
“We are mitigating these risks as the high-yield market is expected to still continue, due to strong pent-up demand from revenge travel, as signalled by our strong load factor of 86% in 3Q22, a rationale competitive landscape and strong take-up rate in ancillary products from the reinstatement of international flights,” it added.
Capital A continued to maintain pilot and engineer licences and redeployed groups of people to support its growing digital businesses.
Driven by the revival in demand for air travel post-pandemic, Capital A’s revenue for the 3Q ended Sept 30, grew significantly to RM1.96bil compared to RM295.89mil recorded in 3Q21 following the relaxation of travel restrictions, including testing, quarantine, and entry requirements.
A total of 86% of the group’s 3Q22 revenue was attributed to the aviation segment while 5% of revenue was derived from the logistics business, 5.3% from the digital and other businesses as well as the remaining 3.7% was contributed by its engineering business.
Despite posting an increase in its revenue, Capital A posted a net loss of RM901.31mil in the quarter, which was larger than the RM887mil net loss it suffered in 3Q21.
The current quarter recorded a share of loss of RM226.8mil from associates. It was severely affected by foreign exchange losses of RM531.2mil, including 2.89 billion baht (RM364.81mil) recorded by its associated company, Asia Aviation Public Company Ltd, due to the depreciation of local currencies against the US dollar during the quarter, it added.
