Capital A aviation revenue surges in first quarter

The aviation business of Capital A – formerly AirAsia Group – has seen revenues nearly quadruple year on year in the first quarter of its 2022 financial year. For the three months ended 31 March, Air Asia Aviation Group (AAAGL) generated MYR601m, up from MYR185m a year earlier, according to Capital A’s quarterly results. Aviation accounted for 75% of Capital A’s overall revenue. Capital A’s logistics business generated revenue of MYR147m in the quarter, while the digital business generated just MRY63m. Capital A saw an EBITDA loss of MYR309m in the quarter, widening from an EBITDA loss of MYR202m a year earlier. Capital A’s net loss widened to MYR911m from MYR794m a year earlier. Specific to the aviation business, aircraft fuel expenses surged five-fold year on year to MYR348m in Q1. “The AirAsia Aviation Group posted an encouraging [quarter on quarter] trend, says AAGL CE Bo Lingam. “In 1Q2022, the aviation group posted a healthy load factor of 76%. Significantly, the increase of capacity and additional frequency of domestic flights supported the strong resurgence in air travel demand. In 1Q2022, demand spiked during the festive season and boosted the overall group capacity to 4.9m available passenger seats with 3.7m passengers flown.” ASKs more than tripled and RPKs nearly quadrupled year on year. As of 31 March 2022, AAAGL operated 152 aircraft, up from 149 a year earlier.<br/>