Philippine unit records highest load factor across AirAsia brand

From Aviation Updates Philippines Author: DIRK SALCEDO

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F&S Holdings Inc. chair Sheila Bermudez Romero (3rd from left) with husband Rep. Mikee Romero (left) and Philippines AirAsia executives

Aviation Updates Philippines –  AirAsia Group Berhad released its second quarter preliminary operating statistics on Tuesday for financial year 2019. The multinational airline company gained more positive numbers in comparison to its second quarter statistics in 2018.

The second quarter, which runs from April to June, proved to be affluent for Philippines AirAsia as it holds the highest loadfactor at 91 percent across the AirAsia group. This number is up by 4 percent compared to last year.

AirAsia India comes in second with a loadfactor of 90 percent (up 3 points). Next is Malaysia AirAsia at 84 percent (down 2 points), Thai AirAsia at 83 percent (down 2 points), Indonesia AirAsia at 82 percent (up 1 point), and lastly AirAsia Japan steadily at 78 percent (down 1 point).

Philippines AirAsia flew 2,225,367 passengers during the second quarter of 2019 compared to only 1,817,962 passengers during the same time last year. Passenger capacity also increased to 2,456,820 from 2,089,260 seats.

The year is promising for AirAsia’s Philippine counterpart just as it recorded an 18 percent capacity increase brought by frequency increases on key domestic and international routes. The low-cost airline also boasts a 22 percent increase in passenger volume year-over-year (YoY).

Amid an aggressive capacity expansion, Philippines AirAsia recorded a 31 percent increase on available seat kilometers (ASK) to 2,879 from 2,198 last year. Consequently, revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) grew to 2,514—a significant 33 percent increase from 1,891 during the same time last year. 

In addition, the number of flights flown steadily increased by 18 percent to 13,649 from 11,607. The average distance flown runs higher by 11 percent at 1,172 kilometers from 1,052 kilometers. Philippines AirAsia ended the quarter with 23 aircraft on-hand. 

On the other hand, AirAsia Group, as a whole, flew 12,839,204 passengers (18 percent higher) while it offered 15,093,048 seats (19 percent higher). However, the average loadfactor on all airlines decreased by 1 point to 85 percent. By the end of the quarter, the group operated 146 planes mainly Airbus A320 and A320neo aircraft