Strong Q1 2011 for AirAsia X

AirAsia X carried 0.64million passengers in Q1 2011, an increase of 56.5% over the same quarter in 2010.

The airline added six new routes Mumbai, Delhi, Tehran, Seoul, Tokyo, and Paris and its aircraft fleet size also increased from 8 to 11. The airline currently operates 9 Airbus A330s and 2 Airbus A340s.

In terms of passenger traffic, AirAsia X grew by 59.8% to 3.6 billion Revenue-Passenger-Kms (RPKs) for Q1-2011.

It’s capacity grew by 48% to 4.5 billion Available-Seat-Kms (ASKs), resulting in a load factor of 81%, an increase of 6 percentage-points from the same quarter last year, where it registered a load factor of 75%.

All routes that AirAsia X has operated for over a year yielded a positive increase in load factor.

The airline registered an even higher increase from its cargo operations, where it carried 8,324 tons of freight, up 182.2% from a year ago.

Azran Osman-Rani, CEO of AirAsia X said, “Our continued rapid growth trajectory is testament to the breakthrough long-haul model that we have pioneered, which unlocks significant latent demand that exists between Southeast Asia and the major markets in North Asia, Australia, India, Middle East and Europe, which is unserved by traditional low-cost carriers. The longer range of our aircraft is perfectly suited for the geographically dispersed Asia-Pacific landscape.”

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