Photo by Mohd Suhaimi Mohamed Yusuf/The Edge

KUALA LUMPUR (April 27): Capital A Bhd registered strong passenger traffic of 13.2 million in the first financial quarter ended March 31, 2023 (1QFY2023), representing a 153% year-on-year (y-o-y) rise, and an 11% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) growth, due to increased operating aircraft and robust travel demand.

In a statement on Thursday (April 27), Capital A, the parent company of low-cost carrier AirAsia, said it had consolidated all four airlines under the group, namely AirAsia Malaysia, AirAsia Thailand, AirAsia Indonesia and AirAsia Philippines, in 1QFY2023.

It said that at the end of the quarter, 157 aircraft had been activated, of which 142 were operating, and 15 were spares.

"The group operated 14.8 million seats [in 1QFY2023], [which was] 71% of 1QFY2019's levels, with a load factor of 89%, on a par with pre-pandemic levels," it said.

Meanwhile, it said AirAsia Malaysia posted a passenger load factor of 88% in 1QFY2023, improving by one percentage point from 4QFY2022 and 1QFY2019.

It said the airline carried 2.3 million international passengers during the quarter under review, a surge of 17% q-o-q, while on the domestic front, it said passengers carried grew 3% q-o-q, leading to a load factor of 92%, and achieving close to 75% of pre-pandemic levels.

Capital A said its engineering arm Asia Digital Engineering Sdn Bhd (ADE) saw the numbers improved to seven lines and 14 checks in 1QFY2023, from three lines and eight checks in 1QFY2022.

As for the digital business, airasia SuperApp recorded 12.9 million average monthly active users in 1QFY2023, up 12% q-o-q, while the number of transactions reached 5.98 million, up 99% y-o-y, but down by 19% q-o-q.

"The growth in monthly active users and transactions was mainly driven by AirAsia's increased flight capacity, continuous growth of the travel-related line of businesses, and airasia ride," it said.

Meanwhile, BigPay users grew 17% y-o-y to 1.37 million in 1QFY2023. Nearly 55,000 new users were registered since the last quarter.

For Teleport, the logistics arm delivered 5.7 million parcels in 1QFY2023, a surge of 502% y-o-y and equivalent to 71% of total volume in FY2022.

The cargo segment transported 35,723 tonnes in 1QFY2023, increasing 39% y-o-y and 15% q-o-q, owing to the return of international passenger flights and increased contributions from global freight forwarders.