KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia X Bhd
(AAX) carried 504,476 passengers in the first quarter (1Q23), up 49% from 337,638 passengers in the fourth quarter of 2022, driven by the New Year holidays and spring season travel demand.
The carrier, in a statement, said the impressive performance was on the back of increased seat capacity which grew by 47% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to 630,069 seats while available seat kilometres (ASK) surged by 71% to 2,899 million.
“This quarter, an extensive focus continued for fleet reactivation supporting the ramp up of flight frequencies across AirAsia X’s core network.
“AAX relaunched more destinations catering to strong demand, now serving scheduled flights to Osaka, Busan as well as Shanghai, besides increasing its services to fly seven times weekly to Tokyo,” it said.
Across its network, Delhi and Tokyo posted the strongest passenger load factor (PLF) of close to 90%, while overall PLF was strong at 80%, up from 79% in the preceding quarter.
Encouraged by the recent reopening of China in early March 2023, AAX expects to launch more flights to the country as well as increase frequency on the most popular and profitable historical routes.
It is also deliberating the addition of more destinations and countries within its network in the short to medium term.
Its associate, AirAsia X Thailand carried a total of 289,813 passengers in 1Q23 with a strong PLF of 88%.
Seat capacity during the quarter under review increased by 33% QoQ to 329,913 seats while ASK rose by 40% to 1,601 million on the back of increased scheduled flights and frequencies across its network.
AAX’s total fleet size remained at 14 A330s as of the end of March 2023, with nine aircraft now activated and operational, while AirAsia X Thailand’s total fleet size stood at eight A330s, with five aircraft activated and operational.
