KUALA LUMPUR: Capital A said the number of passengers it carried in 2Q24 rose 11% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 15.6 million to surpass capacity growth of 7% as regional travel demand remained resilient.
Meanwhile, the group's load factor remained at a record 90% in 2Q24, up two percentage points y-o-y, on the back of an increase in capacity, according to its 2Q operating statistics report.
"Routes to China and India were among the strongest, boasting a robust year-to-date load factor of 91%, following visa-free travel implementation at the end of 2023 for China and India travellers," it said in a statement.
Additionally, the group experienced similar growth rates in both its domestic and international segments, which it said indicated a holistic recovery across AirAsia's network.
Excluding Cambodia, Capital A said passenger numbers are nearing pre-pandemic levels, with year-to-date recovery reaching 84% of pre-Covid figures, surpassing capacity recovery of 81%.
According to the group, the airline units comprising AirAsia Malaysia, AirAsia Thailand, AirAsia Indonesia, AirAsia Philippines, and AirAsia Cambodia reinstated 195 aircraft out of its total fleet of 218, following the reactivation of eight aircraft during the quarter.
In other business segments, the group said Asia Digital Engineering (ADE), its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) service provider, saw operations benefit tremendously from the surge in flight activities.
"Line maintenance checks typically performed during scheduled stopovers, surged by 22% compared to the previous year with over 3,000 line checks completed in the second quarter," it said.
Catering arm Santan recorded a 6% y-o-y increase in inflight product sales, reaching nearly 5.2 million units sold.
Teleport, the group's logistics arm, continued to show growth momentum across its cargo and solutions segments in the second quarter.
Accordingly, the cargo segment handled over 60,000 tonnes during the quarter, which was 33% more than the same quarter in 2023, while the solutions segment delivered over 15.3 million parcels, a 215% jump from 2Q23.
"While capacity increased 11%, capacity utilisation rate continues to improve from 13% to 15%, reflecting a healthy volume, revenue pipeline and better operating efficiency," it said.
AirAsia Move, which transitioned from being a super app offering grocery shipping and food delivery into a travel platform, saw the app's monthly active users (MAU) increase 10% y-o-y despite a 13% drop in overall MAUs.
E-wallet app BigPay, meanwhile, reported a positive trend in user acquisition with a steady 10% y-o-y growth in quarterly carded users, reaching 1.55 million.
During the quarter, the app saw a 16% y-o-y increase in annualised average revenue per user (Arpu).
