unaligned

Wizz Air Holdings reported a 28% rise in full-year profit Thursday and said it had seen no signs of demand for flights weakening since Britain voted to leave the EU, helping to send its shares to a record high. Shares in the London-listed airline that focuses on flights to central and eastern Europe jumped as much as 11% to a high of 2,166 pence, with analysts also saying its profit forecast for the current financial year was above consensus. The company has faced increased pressure on pricing since larger low-cost airlines easyJet and Ryanair added more capacity to rival routes, taking advantage of weak oil prices to try to capture market share. Wizz Air said its profit for the 12 months to the end of March rose to a record E246m from E193m a year earlier while revenue climbed 10% to E1.57b.<br/>

Malaysian low-cost airline AirAsia reported a 30% drop in its quarterly net profit as higher fuel expenses overshadowed the effects of increased passenger numbers and an improvement in its load factor. Asia's biggest budget airline is expanding and expects to achieve double-digit fleet growth this year to cater for rising demand for cheap travel in Asia. Net profit for Q1 ended March 30 fell to 615.8m ringgit from a year ago while revenue rose 31% to 2.2b ringgit. In January-March, AirAsia carried 9.15m passengers, 6% more year on year and ahead of a 1% rise in seat capacity. The airline posted a load factor - a measure of how full planes are - of 89% for the period, 4 percentage points higher than a year ago. The airline said Thursday that despite revenue growth, net operating profit fell mainly due to the approximately 20% rise in average fuel price from $56 per barrel a year ago to $67 per barrel this quarter. Profit was also hit by a strong US dollar during the quarter.<br/>