AirAsia Philippines reported an increase in its load factor in 2023, rising to 91 percent from 89 percent in 2022.
Despite this, the airline also experienced a significant increase in the number of passengers carried, with a 57 percent rise from 4.2 million passengers to 6.6 million passengers during the same timeframe.
AirAsia Phillipines CEO Ricky Isla said that the airline's fourth quarter results in 2023 accounted for 25 percent of the overall performance.
During this period, they successfully transported 1.6 million passengers, resulting in an 88 percent load factor.
"Our success and growth in passenger capacity reflects the strong demand for air travel. Other factors seen to have contributed to our increased capacity include stable jet fuel prices, and our monthly double-digit sales which are anchored to providing the best deals to our guests. This 2024, we will continue to strengthen our domestic presence while leveraging on our strong route network across Asean and beyond," Isla said.
He added that different events planned for the second quarter of 2024 and the summer season have now influenced the choices of the riding public when it comes to booking.
As early as January 25th, AirAsia Philippines noticed a rise in advance reservations for March, April, and May, with over 300,000 seats already sold for popular domestic locations like Boracay, Bohol, Puerto Princesa, and Cebu, as well as international destinations like Taipei, Narita, Tokyo, and Incheon.
"The full return of our pre pandemic fleet this 2024 is seen to optimize flight frequency, re-activate previously shelved destinations, and open more international routes that will satisfy the travel needs of our guests," Isla said.
Meanwhile, Capital A Berhad, AirAsia Philippines' parent company, released the operating statistics for its aviation for the Fourth Quarter and Full Year of the Financial Year 2023.
Other airline members of the Group - AirAsia Malaysia, AirAsia Thailand, and AirAsia Indonesia - have consistently recorded load factors in the high 80s every quarter, leading to a robust Group load factor of 88 percent for FY2023 - a Year-on-Year ("YoY") increase of 5 percentage points ("ppts").
This achievement signifies the return of strong travel demand, which is aligned with the Group's relentless effort to inject capacity back into the market and reinstate the route network.
As more capacity becomes available, operations will continue to stabilize and the customer experience will improve.
Closing the year with 162 operational aircraft, the Group carried nearly 57 million passengers for the entire year. Compared to pre-Covid levels, the aviation group passenger recovery reached 77 percent on the back of 74 percent capacity recovery.
Leading the way is the domestic recovery, which stands at 82 percent, while the international recovery is at 72 percent.
PHOTO CREDIT: AirAsia Newsroom
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