AirAsia X Berhad (“AAX” or “the Company”), the long-haul, low cost airline affiliate of the AirAsia Group is pleased to announce its operating statistics for the 2nd Quarter 2015 (“2Q15”).

In line with the company’s expectation, passenger traffic was set back by the marketing halt in 1Q15 with respect to QZ8501 incident and brand damage in Australia caused by the Bali-Melbourne disruption. The company has intensified marketing activities in early April and taken initiatives to restore positive brand image in Australia which are expecting to bear fruit by Second Half of the year.

The company was also pressured from continuous irrational competition posted by the national carrier with beyond cost level fares and further amplified by series of unforeseen external factors such as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in Korea and the massive earthquake in Kathmandu. However, impacts from these extraordinary one-off events are expected to diminish very soon.

Moreover, it is traditionally the weakest quarter of the year for passenger traffic hence AirAsia X recorded lower load factor of 68% but with improved average base fare. Available-Seat-KM (“ASK”) also decrease 9% year-on-year (“y-o-y”) to 5,693 million in 2Q15, through frequency reduction to Australia as well as the termination of Adelaide and Nagoya in 1Q15. Meanwhile, excess capacity from this quarter, resultant from network consolidation, were deployed to short-term wet lease and charter operations, to maximize revenue in USD.

In terms of fleet movement, AAX Group took delivery of 1 A330-300 on operating lease during the quarter, bringing its total number of A330-300s to 26, with 4 based in Thai AirAsia X and 2 in Indonesia AirAsia X.

The company sees return of business from 3Q15 onward as the national carrier rationalized its aggressive pricing and positive brand image has been reinstated in Australia. This is evidenced by promising advance bookings especially from the Australian market and the trend is in line with expectations to override the setbacks of First Half 2015.