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AirAsia India, which kicked off its domestic operations in June this year with huge discount offers, has reported losses for the first full quarter.
The airline launched by Tony Fernandes, who operates the low-cost AirAsia in South-East Asia, reported a loss of ₹29 crore for the July-September quarter bogged down by low load factor as well as higher loss per passenger.
The airline had reported a loss of around $4.3 million during the first 18 days of its operations. An AirAisa spokesperson did not respond to BusinessLine ’s queries about its operations in India. The airline had earlier said it will turn profitable by September this year.
The airline, 49 per cent owned by AirAsia Bhd, has been struggling with low-load factors, especially in August and September. In a disclosure in the investor relations section of its website, the promoters said despite being only a few months into operations, “the forward loads remain buoyant and it will remain focused on building a footprint in the Indian domestic market with the introduction of new routes and frequency increases.”
New hubThe statement added that by December, the company is likely to add two more aircraft in India, bringing it to a total of four aircraft. During the quarter, the airline added one more aircraft, which started operations in early September.
The carrier operates to six destinations, served by 16 daily flights. It has hubs in Chennai as well as in Bengaluru, and is expected to add another hub soon. This is because the Bengaluru airport cannot accommodate all its aircraft.
Sources said the airline, which operates two Airbus A320, flew a total of 1,70,280 seats with an average load factor of 75 per cent, according to published data. An analyst with an airline consultancy firm said the airline lost around ₹2,250 for every passenger flown.
AirAsia has tried to make inroads into the sector by offering huge discounts, some of which were very hard to match by competitors. It recently offered a ₹699 one-way fare, which was available only for a day.
As per data, the average daily aircraft utilisation is about 11.50 hours and its turnaround time is 29 minutes; though at the launch of its first flight, a spokesperson had said it expects a turnaround time of about 20 minutes.
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