AirAsia X reports big jump in quarterly profit on forex gains

AirAsia X, Malaysia's long-haul budget airline, posted a seventh straight quarterly profit which surged largely due to foreign exchange gains and deferred taxes. The carrier reported a net profit of 47.4m ringgit (US$11.1m) for Q2 ended June, versus 1m ringgit a year ago. Revenue rose 17% to a record 1.04b ringgit, from 883.2m ringgit a year ago. For the full year earnings were estimated by seven analysts polled by Reuters to be around 193m ringgit. The quarterly performance was helped by aircraft leasing income growing 15% over the period to 123m ringgit, mainly due to the depreciation of the ringgit, while ancillary revenue grew 41% from a year ago to 193.5m ringgit. Operating performance in Q2 trended slightly above expectations despite the period historically being a lean travelling season. Passenger load factor improved 5 percentage points to 80%, in line with the 26% year-on-year growth in ASK to 8,449m. Total passengers carried in the quarter rose 34% to 1.39m.<br/>