Air Asia Philippines posted an over 100 percent passenger increase and a "commendable" 78 percent load factor for the 2nd quarter of the year as the Air Asia Group Berhad completely transforms into a digital travel and lifestyle company, with "sufficient liquidity until 2022".
“The Group posted a healthy load factor of 68 percent during the quarter, up 9 ppts attributed to active capacity management to match demand. This is led by AirAsia Philippines with 78 percent load factor during the quarter," President (Airlines) of AirAsia Group Berhad Bo Lingam t announced.
For their part, AirAsia Malaysia, AirAsia Indonesia and AirAsia Thailand experienced subdued momentum due to rising Covid-19 cases in their respective domestic markets.
Nonetheless, passenger numbers improved year-on-year (YoY).
AirAsia Philippines, AirAsia Indonesia and AirAsia Thailand each increased by more than 100 percent YoY, while AirAsia Malaysia reported a 64 percent increase YoY.
Quarter on quarter (QoQ), AirAsia Philippines progressed steadily with a 2 percent increase in the number of passengers carried and an improvement of 4 percentage points (ppts) in load factor, to reach a commendable 78 percent.
“We have unwavering confidence that our robust short haul business model, lean operations, contactless procedures, combined with pent-up demand, vaccines and travel bubble formations, will ensure a quick recovery upon the relaxation of travel restrictions in the near future," he stressed.
"People are craving to travel again and we expect to see a strong resurgence in the visiting friends and relatives (VFR) as well as the leisure and spontaneous travel markets first.”
As for the group’s outlook, “Our transformation is over and we are now an investment holding company with a portfolio of travel and lifestyle businesses," said AirAsia Group Berhad CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes.
“Innovation has always been in our DNA and we will continue to develop and expand our products and services to meet consumer demand in all of our key markets."
"Through all of our strategic fundraising exercises, we expect to have sufficient liquidity for 2H2021 and throughout 2022.”