Bangkok--6 May--AirAsia
AirAsia X, the leading long haul low fare affiliate of AirAsia announced that in the first quarter of 2011, it carried 0.64million passengers, an increase of 56.5% over the same quarter in 2010. AirAsia X added six new routes in Q1-2011 versus Q1-2010: Mumbai, Delhi, Tehran, Seoul, Tokyo, and Paris. Its aircraft fleet size also increased from 8 to 11. The airline currently operates on 9 Airbus A330s and 2 Airbus A340s.
In terms of passenger traffic, AirAsia X grew by 59.8% to 3.6 billion Revenue-Passenger-Kms (RPKs) for Q1-2011, making it the second largest low-cost carrier in Southeast Asia, after AirAsia Malaysia. It’s capacity grew by 48% to 4.5 billion Available-Seat-Kms (ASKs), resulting in a load factor of 81%, an increase of 6 percentage-points from the same quarter last year, where it registered a load factor of 75%. All routes that AirAsia X has operated for over a year have yielded a positive increase in load factor.
It registered an even higher increase from its cargo operations, where it carried 8,324 tons of freight, up 182.2% from a year ago.
Azran Osman-Rani, CEO of AirAsia X said, “Our continued rapid growth trajectory is testament to the breakthrough long-haul model that we have pioneered, which unlocks significant latent demand that exists between Southeast Asia and the major markets in North Asia, Australia, India, Middle East and Europe, which is unserved by traditional low-cost carriers. The longer range of our aircraft is perfectly suited for the geographically dispersed Asia-Pacific landscape.”
The current Board of Directors of AirAsia X Sdn Bhd comprises eight directors representing the shareholders of the company, namely AeroVentures Sdn Bhd (52%), AirAsia Bhd (16%), Corvina Holdings (10%), Orix Corp (11%), and Manara Malaysia Ltd (11%). The Board is presently chaired by YB Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz whose post was previously held by Dato’ Kamarudin Meranun, AirAsia Bhd’s Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer.
AirAsia X is the long-haul, low cost affiliate of AirAsia, Malaysia’s largest airline by market capitalization.