AirAsia X Berhad (“AAX” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce its operating statistics for the 1st quarter of 2017 (“1Q17”).

The Company continued to show encouraging improvement in its operating performance, despite huge capacity added during the quarter. The number of passengers carried in 1Q17 saw a huge 33% increase year-on-year (“YoY”) to 1.40 million, exceeding capacity addition of 28%. The healthy growth of passengers carried was attributed to the strong demand for travel observed across all segments.

The Company continues to stimulate demand to fill up the additional capacity injected in 1Q17, by achieving higher passenger load factor (“PLF”), up 2 percentage points (“ppts”) to 84% in 1Q17 from 82% in the same period last year, on the back of 29% YoY growth in Available Seat per Kilometres (“ASK”) to 8,324 million in 1Q17.

During the quarter under review, Malaysia AirAsia X (“MAAX”) added frequency on one route: Kuala Lumpur – Tehran, boosted by increasing demand. MAAX also added Wuhan to its network. No new aircraft was added into MAAX in 1Q17, hence, the fleet size stood at 22 A330s.

On the associates, Thai AirAsia X (“TAAX”) registered strong PLF of 94% in 1Q17 as all routes performed better during the quarter under review. TAAX terminated Bangkok – Muscat in 1Q17. No new route was introduced during the quarter. No additional aircraft was added into TAAX in 1Q17, hence their fleet size 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. IAAX fleet size remained at 2 A330s, bringing AirAsia X Group (“the Group”) total fleet to 30.

Moving forward in 2017, The Group remains prudent in its expansion plan, continues to explore strategic initiatives to ensure sustainable growth and strengthen our position in core markets where we can build up our market leadership position.