AirAsia Group Posts Load Factor of 86% in Q1 2016

9th May 2016

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), AirAsia Group’s load factor has reached 86 per cent for the first quarter of this year. At the same time, the average load factor in the aviation industry is between 78 per cent and 79 per cent.

In a statement, the Malaysian-based airline said its load factor rose by nine percentage points (9 ppts) from the 77 per cent it was last year in the same period.

AirAsia also said that its year-on-year (YoY) passenger numbers rose 17 per cent and it currently stands at just below 14 million.

How did the Individual Members of AirAsia Group do in Q1?

Individually, Malaysia AirAsia posted a load factor of 85 per cent in the first quarter of 2016. This was 10ppts up from 2015. It also had an increase in passenger carried capacity of 17 per cent and reached 6.48 million passengers for a 3 per cent year-on-year capacity increase.

Indonesia AirAsia increased its load factor to 79 per cent, 9 ppts up from the same period in 2015. Although it suffered a 10 per cent YoY capacity reduction, IAA still managed to increase the number of carried passengers by 2 per cent.

A statement from the airline said:

As part of its turnaround plan, in Q1 IAA transferred out two aircraft to the other affiliates (one aircraft to Thai AirAsia and one to Philippines AirAsia). Its total fleet at the end of Q1 stood at 23 aircraft, which includes eight aircraft operated by Indonesia AirAsia X.

Thai AirAsia had the best load factor for Q1 2016 of 88 per cent. It also increased its capacity by 11 per cent compared to the last year’s period as well as the total number of carried passengers 18 per cent YoY to 4.37 million.

AirAsia India posted a load factor of 86 per cent for Q1, which is 6 ppts up from the previous year. At the same time, the number of passengers it carried crossed half million (0.54 million) thanks to a boost of 127 per cent in passengers carried by this airline.

Finally, Philippines Airlines reported a load factor of 87 per cent for the reviewed period, for an increase of 10 ppts YoY. At the same time, number of passengers increased 15 per cent to almost one million (0.97M), thanks to an increase in capacity of 2 per cent YoY.