AirAsia Group rebound 'hampered' by partial lockdowns in 4Q2020

AirAsia Group president Bo Lingam reported (29-Mar-2021) the group's "strong rebound" in 3Q2020 for Malaysia's domestic market was "hampered" in 4Q2020 due to partial lockdowns imposed in Oct-2020 and Nov-2020. Mr Lingam stated: "Nonetheless, with active capacity management, load factor was healthy at 72%". He said Indonesia AirAsia carried five times more passengers in 4Q2020 compared to 3Q2020, resulting in an increase in load factor of 10pp quarter-on-quarter. Mr Lingam added Philippines AirAsia "almost doubled" the number of passengers carried quarter-on-quarter and Thai AirAsia operated 116% of pre-COVID domestic capacity in Dec-2020 and utilised 70% of its fleet by the end of Dec-2020. [more - original PR]