AirAsia X
AirAsia X Malaysia ended the June quarter with an RM-652.5 million net loss. As the low-cost long-haul carrier resumed passenger operations in the quarter after two years of grounding due to the Covid crisis, the result can’t be compared to last year’s. AirAsia X restarts with a quarterly loss.
Comparison is meaningless for another reason, as AirAsia X also changed its financial year to end on December 31, 2022, from June 30 in 2021. The operating loss for the quarter was RM-653.8 million, EBITDA RM -691.5 million, the company announced on August 19.
In its Q4 of financial year FY21/22, AirAsia X Malaysia earned RM107.2 million in revenues, of which RM96.8 million was from operating cargo flights. RM6.7 million came from scheduled services and RM2.1 million from charter flights, demonstrating the fragile state that its market still is in. It relaunched services in the current first quarter of FY22/23 to Seoul and New Delhi and has planned services for late this year or early 2023 to London, Istanbul, Dubai, Jeddah, Tokyo, plus Australia, and New Zealand.
AirAsia X Thailand produced an RM-176.8 million net loss, an operating loss of RM-41.5 million, and revenues of RM64.5 million. AirAsia X Indonesia reported an RM-16.3 million net loss, an RM-1.5 million operating loss, and generated no revenues.
For the full-year period, AirAsia X Malaysia reported an RM32.804 billion net profit, an operating profit of RM32.517 billion, an EBITDA of RM32.834 billion, and revenues of RM438.8 million, of which RM330.5 million from cargo. Including Thailand and Indonesia, the net profit was RM33.3 billion, an operating profit of RM33.5 billion, and RM1.1 billion in revenues.
Debt-free after restructuring
Following the forced grounding of its fleet in March 2020, AirAsia X entered a debt restructuring exercise of RM64.2 billion that included a settlement and waiver of debts. Creditors submitted proof of debts of RM65.1 billion. The carrier proposed in October last year to pay just 0.5 percent of its debts to creditors, which was initially rejected but received approval in November. The debt restructuring was completed in March with RM33.6 billion in write-back of provisions and the termination of liabilities. Part of the restructuring has been the cancelation of 63 Airbus A330neo’s that the carrier had on order since 2018.
AirAsia X Malaysia ended June with RM22.2 million in cash and cash equivalents, down from RM68.5 million in December. Following the debt restructuring, the company has a clean financial position without debt. An RM100 million rights issue and RM50 million share subscription are still pending.
The much smaller and leaner AirAsia X Malaysia, which currently operates just three Airbus A330-300s and still has parked nine, hopes to benefit from the recovery in the wider Asian region, but warns in its financial statement of new threats: “The Company is currently operating under a high fuel price environment, weakening of Malaysia Ringgit against U.S Dollar and obtaining regulatory approvals of the routes. The Company also expects the load factor to build gradually as there are challenges in some of the markets such as longer Australian VISA application process, travel restriction in Japan and Taiwan, and restricted entry in China.”
