KUALA LUMPUR: Capital A Bhd
said the ongoing resurgence of air travel continued to result in a significant rebound for the industry compared to the same period a year ago, benefiting the group not only in the aviation segment but also in the digital, logistics and aviation services segments.
The group said international travel remained the primary catalyst for its aviation business. The swift aircraft restoration efforts continue to enable the group to add capacity in a timely manner and benefit from the favourable high-yield environment, it said.
“We anticipate the high fares to persist. As we reactivate more aircraft, we would be able to remove dead costs and improve the overall financial position.
“The group targets to reactivate all its aircraft by the end of the third quarter 2023,” Capital A said in the notes accompanying its financial results.
In the first quarter ended March 31, Capital A posted a net profit of RM57.1mil against a net loss of RM903.8mil a year ago.
It reported earnings per share of 1.40 sen versus a loss per share of 22.30 last year.
Revenue for the quarter surged to RM2.5bil from RM811.8mil a year prior.
Capital A said in addition to the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) activities to bring back the aircraft to service, one other key success factor to make this happen is having sufficient resources.
Therefore, the group has officially resumed its Cadet Pilot Programme in March, in line with our commitment to restore pre-Covid capacity, expand routes and increase flight frequencies.
Capital A noted that Asia Digital Engineering Sdn Bhd (ADE) managed to secure a US$100mil funding from OCP Asia Ltd. The funds will be channelled to the construction of a new aircraft maintenance hangar facility in Sepang.
“With the addition of 14 new lines to its operations, ADE will enhance its base maintenance capacity to serve AirAsia and also grab the opportunity to serve other third-party airlines,” it added.
Meanwhile, Capital A said Teleport has benefited from the reactivation of more AirAsia fleet, as more passenger belly space is made available for Teleport to sell.
“With the reopening of the China market, Teleport has also progressively resumed cargo lanes to China from Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.
“The first arrival of an A321 Freighter is expected to be in June 2023, with service commencement scheduled in the same month. Two more freighters are in the pipeline. All this additional capacity is to accommodate the growing demand of trade and cross-border e-commerce,” it said.
