Asian regional carrier AirAsia X has announced it achieved an 81% load factor in the second-quarter of its financial year.
The load factor was one percentage point higher than last year and the carrier said it was achieved “despite second quarter historically being the leanest quarter”.
The carrier has also seen a decline in international air travel from Malaysia during the country’s recent general election.
In the three month period, the number of passengers carried stood at 1,568,578, an increase of 13% year on year.
In April, AirAsia X Malaysia ramped up its frequency to Taipei from 19 times weekly to 21 times weekly and to Busan from 4 times weekly to 6 times weekly, encouraged by strong demand.
During the quarter, AirAsia X Malaysia reduced flight frequencies to Beijing from 14 times to 7 times weekly and terminated Tehran.
The airline said it was moving its focus away from single-route countries, allowing capacity to be redeployed to support additional frequencies in core markets.
The fleet size of AirAsia X Malaysia remains at 22 Airbus A330s as at end of June 2018.
AirAsia X Thailand carried a total of 483,595 passengers, up 25% year on year.
During the quarter, AirAsia X Thailand began increasing its flight frequencies to Tokyo (Narita), from 14 times weekly to 21 times weekly and introduced daily flights to Sapporo in April 2018.
AirAsia X Thailand took delivery of one additional aircraft in April 2018, bringing total fleet size in Thailand to 7 aircraft at the end of June 2018.
AirAsia X Indonesia carried a total number of 134,173 passengers in the quarter.
AirAsia X Indonesia cancelled its route to Mumbai (via Kuala Lumpur) in April, and has embarked on a dual-hub strategy, now flying to Tokyo (Narita) from both Bali (Denpasar) and Jakarta.
The fleet size for Indonesia remains at 2 A330s, bringing the total fleet size of AirAsia X Group to 31 Airbus A330s as at end of June 2018.