AirAsia X Berhad (“AAX” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce its operating statistics for the 4th quarter 2016 (“4Q16”) and the Full Financial Year ended 31 December 2016 (“FY2016” or “2016”).

4Q16’s overall operating performance has improved year-on-year (“YoY”), resulting from the successful turnaround initiatives implemented during the year.

In 4Q16, the Company recorded high double-digit increase in passengers carried of 40% year-on-year (“y-o-y”) to 1.38 million, in-line with capacity growth of 43% y-o-y. The huge capacity injected during the quarter was to cater demand rising from year-end holiday travel.

Passenger Load Factor (“PLF”) dropped 2 percentage points (“ppts”) to 81% against 83% for the same period last year, as Available Seat per Kilometers (“ASK”) grew 44% YoY to 8,474 million in 4Q16.

During the quarter, Malaysia AirAsia X (“MAAX”) added frequencies on five routes: Kuala Lumpur – Sydney, Beijing, Sapporo, Busan and Taipei, boosted by year-end peak season demand. MAAX also added Mauritius to its network during the quarter under review. No new aircraft was added into MAAX in 4Q16, hence, the fleet size at the end of December stood at 22 A330s.

On the associates, Thai AirAsia X (“TAAX”) registered PLF of 78% in 4Q16 mainly due to the short term impact on the tourism sector as the Government initiated crackdown on zero-dollar tour for Chinese tourists. Passengers carried up 5% to 350,910 on the back of 13% increase in ASK capacity. The outlook for TAAX in 2017 remains positive as Thailand is a natural tourist hub with traditionally strong inbound and outbound track record. No additional aircraft was added into TAAX during the quarter under review; hence their fleet size at the end of 2016 remained at 6 aircraft.

Meanwhile, Indonesia AirAsia X (“IAAX”) A330s service is still temporarily suspended as part of a network restructuring aimed at improving operational efficiencies at IAAX. The 2 A330s were wet leased to Malaysia AirAsia (“MAA”) in 4Q16.

Operationally, FY2016 has been a success turnaround story with various phases of turnaround initiative was carried out positively during the year. Moving forward into 2017, AirAsia X remains cautious and anticipate a challenging environment, however, the management remains confident to ensure sustainable growth.