AirAsia X Berhad (“AAX” or “the Company”), the long-haul, low-cost airline affiliate of AirAsia Group is pleased to announce its operating statistics for the 1st quarter of 2016 (“1Q16”).

The Company’s continued turnaround initiatives have encouraged progressive improvement in its operating performance, resulting in higher passenger load factor (“PLF”) which grew 8 percentage points (“ppts”) to 82% in 1Q16 from 74% in the same period last year. In terms of passenger traffic, revenue passenger kilometres (“RPK”) increased 19% year-on-year (“y-o-y”) mainly due to strong traffic demand in China and Australia markets, surpassing the 7% y-o-y growth in capacity (“available seat kilometres or ASK”) for the quarter. The capacity injected was to cater to the rising demand in high-traffic markets and expansion to high-yield routes such as New Delhi and Auckland, which commenced in February and March 2016 respectively.

Thai AirAsia X (“TAAX”) recorded an improved PLF of 88% in 1Q16, on the back of high passenger traffic during peak season, while overall operating performance for Indonesia AirAsia X (“IAAX”) has remained consistent.

On fleet movements, Malaysia AirAsia X (“MAAX”) and TAAX both took delivery of one A330 each in 1Q16, bringing their fleet size to a total of 21 and 6 respectively. IAAX fleet size remained at 2 A330s, bringing AirAsia X Group (“the Group”) total fleet to 29.

Moving forward in 2016, the Group remains cautiously optimistic as the challenging operating environment is expected to persist with currency volatility, regulatory uncertainty and other external factors beyond the Group’s control. The Group remains prudent in its expansion plan and continues to explore strategic initiatives to ensure sustainable growth.