AirAsia remains a 'buy' at HLIB, MIDF

Hong Leong Investment Bank expects AirAsia's passenger yield to increase in the second half of this year, citing a seasonally higher demand and the elimination of competition from Firefly and
Malaysia Airlines as reasons.

In a note today, it also said it expects AirAsia's ancillary income to improve further with the implementation of counter check-in charges effective September 1, the launching of loyalty programme, offer of duty free products and the joint venture with Expedia.

The research firm maintained a "Buy" call on AirAsia with an unchanged target price of RM4.50.

Meanwhile, MIDF research has also maintained a "Trading Buy" call on AirAsia with a lower target price of RM4.15, after rolling over the airline's valuation to financial year 2012.


AirAsia reported that its number of passengers carried in the second quarter this year rose by 14.9 per cent compared with the corresponding quarter of last year.

"We believe that the good operational performance will stir interest in the stock in the near term.

"While we expect the global economy to remain uncertain, we believe that AirAsia is well situated to weather the storm due to its position as a low cost carrier," it said. -- Bernama