AirAsia Philippines reported stronger key operational metrics, leading other carriers in the AirAsia Group Berhad as it posted 167 percent increase in passengers year-on-year (YoY) and a 5 percent increase quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), with a healthy 77 percent load factor.
At present, all AirAsia Philippines local destinations no longer require COVID-19 test for fully vaccinated individuals, lowering the cost for air travel.
Also, 9 out of 11 destinations are open for eisure travelers.
“We will continue to be cautiously optimistic by making sure we always strike a balance between cash burn and market demand," according to AirAsia Philippines CFO Ray Berja.
"Our goal has always been to double down on productivity to manage cash flow and operate on break-even points to efficiently manage cash burn," he explained.
"I am most proud of our lifestyle of cash consciousness and mindset of cost efficiencies across AirAsia," says Berja.
"The road to recovery will take a while but what’s definite is that the trajectory is up there, and comprehensive plans are on a push button mode.”
To stimulate further growth in the last quarter of 2021, AirAsia Philippines will double and triple its current weekly flight frequencies to most destinations such as Caticlan, Iloilo, Tacloban, Bacolod, Tagbilaran, Puerto Princesa, Kalibo and Cebu.
At the same time, it will retain its presence in Cagayan De Oro, Davao, Zamboanga and General Santos. AirAsia Philippines will also return to service Hongkong and Singapore this December to transport Overseas Filipino Workers returning to the Philippines for the holidays.
“We support the appeal of the Air Carriers Association of the Philippines to increase the daily cap for foreign arrivals from four thousand to ten thousand to complement the pent-up demand during the holidays," according to AirAsia Philippines CEO Ricky Isla.
"We are all set to win the post pandemic recovery with the ongoing progress of the nationwide vaccination against COVID-19,” he added.
Meanwhile, Airasia's Super App reported 7percent YoY revenue growth for attributed to new product offerings and commissions.
In the Philippines, the Airasia Super App launched Hotels, SNAP (Flight+Hotel bundle), Unlimited deals, and soon more offerings will cater to the growing ecommerce market.
BigPay posted significant growth in revenue, up 26 percent YoY driven by payments and remittances.
Teleport’s revenue tripled YoY due to strategic growth of its cargo network to establish its presence in the market.
“As a Group, we have taken advantage of the downtime in flying to tap new revenue streams and fully transform ourselves into an investment holding company with a portfolio of synergistic travel and lifestyle businesses," AirAsia Group Berhad CEO, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, maintained.
"In just over a year and a half, Asia Digital Engineering, Airasia superapp, Teleport and BigPay have gained significant traction and established a strong presence in our key markets," he pointed out.
"As the world continues to open up and a strong recovery in air travel is on the horizon, our portfolio companies run their businesses independently to ensure speed to market through higher efficiency."
"Together as a group, each of our businesses continue to leverage significant data and industry leading technology to deliver the best value at the lowest cost, supported by one of Asia's leading brands that remains committed to serving the underserved,” Fernandes concluded.