KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia on reported its first net loss in two years, citing heavy foreign-exchange losses along with higher financing and operating costs.
Asia’s largest budget airline by passenger volume said it is recovering from a slight loss in demand after the December plane crash that cost the lives of the 162 people on board a flight operated by its Indonesia affiliate, but it is continuing to grapple with a string of cost factors.
While fourth-quarter foreign-exchange losses leapt to 647.6 million ringgit ($180.8 million) from 34.9 million ringgit a year earlier, financing costs jumped 45 percent to 153.9 million ringgit and operating costs rose more than 9 percent, largely because of staff bonuses.
That sent the company to a net loss of 428.5 million ringgit, against a net profit of 168.5 million ringgit a year earlier, with revenue up 15 percent at 1.5 billion ringgit.
The last time the company registered a quarterly net loss was for the final three months of 2012.
AirAsia also faced higher depreciation costs on additional aircraft, an increase in airport landing costs and charges on dollar-denominated international routes, it said.
The airline said it will tighten its capacity management by taking on fewer new aircraft this year, with the delivery of Airbus A320 CEOs to be delayed. It will limit deliveries to five aircraft in Thailand, India and Japan.
“This year and the next couple of years, the group will not be taking in a large number of aircraft every year like before, hence enabling the company to preserve cash,” CEO Tony Fernandes said in a statement.
The company has no plans to raise money through the equity market, he added.
Fernandes told Reuters Television in early January that the airline’s sales in Indonesia were slowly recovering after the December crash, which cast a spotlight on the patchy safety record of Indonesian airlines.
