AirAsia X, the long haul low fare affiliate of AirAsia carried 0.64million passengers in the first three months of 2011, an increase of 56.5% over the same quarter in 2010.
AirAsia X, which currently operates on nine Airbus A330s and two Airbus A340s, 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.
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 says,: “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.