AirAsia Q2 passenger traffic up 13pc (5099)

AirAsia Bhd group carried 8.285 million passengers during the second quarter of 2012 (2Q12), up 13 per cent over the
7.347 million recorded last year.

The low-cost carrier said in a statement today that its capacity also increased by 13 per cent to 10.46 million seats from 9.22 million seats in 2011.

Load factor was 79 per cent compared with 80 per cent and the number of aircraft increased to 100 from 93 previously.

On the Malaysian operations, Malaysia AirAsia (MAA) sustained a flat load factor of 80 per cent in 2Q12 compared with 81 per cent last year.

The airline strengthened its leading position in the domestic and
international market by increasing frequencies on the Kuala Lumpur (KL)-Terengganu, KL-Langkawi, KL-Vientiane, Langkawi-Singapore and KL-Saigon routes utilising one new aircraft that was delivered end-May 2012.

Meanwhile Thai AirAsia (TAA) posted a 79 per cent load factor, carrying 1.9 million passengers for the quarter, a 20 per cent year-on-year increase.

The increase was supported through an expanded capacity of 19 per cent for the new Chiang Mai-Macau route and additional frequency for its new Bangkok-Trang route for the quarter.

Indonesia AirAsia (IAA) recorded a load factor of 78 per cent, up 2.0 per cent year-on-year due to capacity expansion and strong passenger demand.

Passengers carried increased by 15 per cent whereas capacity increased by 12 per cent year-on-year.

In 2Q12, IAA strengthened its hub with the introduction of the
Bandung-Penang, Bandung-Pekanbaru and Denpasar-Yogyakarta routes.

IAA also increased the frequency for the Bandung-KL and Denpasar-Surabaya routes. -- Bernama