Asia Aviation (AAV), the sole shareholder
of Thai AirAsia, has reported first quarter revenue of
Baht 9.8 billion (approximately 2.02 billion Chinese Yuan), up 369 percent year-on-year.
The airline also reported a Q1 2023 net
profit of Baht 359.4 million, on the back of Baht 1.76 billion
in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation
(EBITDA).
It’s the second consecutive
quarter of positive results for Thai AirAsia, reflecting the recovery in the domestic market
where the airline achieved a record-setting market share of 37 percent.
Similarly, demand in the international market is also rebounding,
especially in China where growth has significantly improved since
March 2023 and is expected to continue until the end of the year.
Based on these positive developments, the company is confident of
recording its first post-pandemic net profit this year.
Throughout Q1 2023, Thai AirAsia served 4.58 million passengers, up 13
percent from the previous quarter and 216 percent year-on-year.
The quarterly load factor hit a new high of 92 percent while
on-time performance remained strong at 87 percent.
The airline
completed the quarter with a fleet of 54 aircraft (1 aircraft
pending redelivery) with 45 active in service. The utilisation
rate averaged 11.8 hours per day per aircraft.
“The growth continued in Q1 2023 from
the preceding quarter indicating that the tourism and aviation
industries are trending positively. Notably, the carrier
transported 1.42 million international passengers in the quarter,
up 26 percent quarter-on-quarter, whereas international travel was
barred during the same period last year,” said Santisuk
Klongchaiya, Chief Executive Officer of Asia Aviation and
Thai AirAsia. “The airline saw clear
growth in this segment and was well prepared to capitalise on the
Chinese market during the past quarter following the lifting of
China’s COVID19 travel restriction policy earlier in the year.
Also, domestic air travel benefited from the government’s fifth
phase of the “We Travel Together” Program, which drove 3.16
million domestic passengers to fly with Thai AirAsia in Q1 2023.
For 2023, Thai AirAsia is maintaining a target of 20 million passengers served, up from
the 9.95 million served last year.
Load factor has been forecast
at 87 percent and the airline is confident of maintaining its
on-time performance industry leadership while having the largest
operating fleet of 53 aircraft.
If the travel sector recovers
faster than predicted, Thai AirAsia plans to bring in more aircraft to capitalise
on the opportunity for growth and is working closely with the
Tourism Authority of Thailand to attract foreign tourists to the
nation and support secondary cities where there is demand.
“Thai AirAsia has plans to proactively add more domestic
and international routes from our Don Mueang (DMK), Suvarnabhumi
(BKK), Chiang
Mai (CNX) and Phuket (HKT) flight bases, which have recovered swiftly,
especially to the Chinese market where demand for travel is high.
From the start of the year to the end of April, over 845,000
Chinese travellers visited Thailand, second only to the 1.29
million travellers who came from Malaysia. As of the end of the
first quarter, Thai AirAsia is operating 67 flights to China each
week and is looking to increase frequency to 114 per week in the
second quarter before returning to its pre-pandemic peak of 140
flights per week later this year. We have also continued to
receive strong support for more services across ASEAN as well as
to India, Fukuoka and Taipei,” added Khun Santisuk. “Domestically, Thai AirAsia
has returned to flying 89 percent of its pre-pandemic total number
of passengers carried with a 37 percent market share this quarter.
With strong brand loyalty from our guests and the most aircraft in
the market to cater for forecast increased demand we look forward
to continuing to be the largest and most popular low cost carrier
in Thailand.”
