AirAsia parent reports revenue gains

KUALA LUMPUR, 31 May 2022: Capital A Berhad (formerly known as AirAsia Group Berhad) has reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2022 that showed the consolidated group posted revenue of MYR812 million, up 153% year-on-year and down by 1% quarter-on-quarter comparison.

Aviation revenue grew significantly by 226% YoY and 5% QoQ to MY601 million off the back of the improved demand during the festive season, together with the further easing of travel restrictions in 1Q2022. The group’s logistics arm, Teleport reported considerable revenue growth of 58% YoY to MYR147 million. Digital businesses consisting of AirAsia Super App and BigPay reported robust revenue growth of 46% YoY. The aviation, logistics and digital companies have contributed 74%, 18% and 8%, respectively, of the revenue in 1Q2022.

Overall, the group’s EBITDA was MYR309 million, which improved by 12% and the Net Loss Before Tax was MYR1,076 million. Several factors offset the big improvement in revenue, mainly attributed to higher fuel and maintenance costs and larger recognition of losses from associates.

On the airline performance results and outlook, AirAsia Aviation Group CEO and president (airlines)  Bo Lingam said: “The AirAsia Aviation Group posted an encouraging QoQ trend. In 1Q2022, the aviation group posted a healthy load factor of 76%. Significantly, the increase in capacity and additional frequency of domestic flights supported the strong resurgence in air travel demand. In 1Q2022, demand spiked during the festive season and boosted the overall group capacity to 4.9 million available passenger seats with 3.7 million passengers flown.

“AAAGL’s performance continued to improve across critical metrics throughout the quarter, supported by strong pent up demand and with the easing of travel restrictions in all of our core domestic markets. This is evidenced by the sharp increase in flights up by 235% YoY and 47% QoQ to 26,916 flights in 1Q2022, alongside more robust passenger traffic compared to the same period last year. All of the airlines in the group posted a commendable load factor in 1Q2022, with AirAsia Malaysia at 74%, up by one percentage point YoY, AirAsia Indonesia at 76%, up by 20 ppts YoY, AirAsia Philippines at 86%, up by 12 ppts YoY and AirAsia Thailand at 73%, up by seven ppts YoY.

“The aviation group outlook remains positive. We firmly believe there will continue to be a V-shaped travel rebound and improved passenger traffic throughout the remainder of the year and beyond. We are confident in the ongoing revival of air travel in the coming quarters. With the support of ASEAN countries that are already gradually reopening international borders, we will be flying to pre-Covid capacity on many of our core domestic and international routes by the end of this year. The aviation group flew 60% of pre-Covid domestic flights in 1Q2022. We aimed to operate 93% of its total pre-covid domestic capacity, including AirAsia Thailand, by the end of the year.”