Budget carrier AirAsia Philippines flew 382 percent more passengers in 2022 as domestic and overseas travels were allowed to resume.
The budget airline said the number of passengers it carried last year reached 4.21 million, up from only 875,927 passengers in 2021.
In the fourth quarter alone, AirAsia Philippines carried 1.44 million passengers , higher by 307 percent from 354,886 passengers in the same period in 2021.
Load factor, or capacity versus actual seats taken, rose 9 percentage points to 89 percent last year from only 80 percent in the same period in 2021. Fourth quarter load factor also rose 2 percentage points to 87 percent from 85 percent in 2021.
Its load factor in 2022 was also the highest among all airline operations centers (AOC) of Capital A Berhad, formerly known AirAsia Group Berhad.
AirAsia Malaysia had a load factor of 84 percent last year; AirAsia Indonesia, 79 percent; and AirAsia Thailand with 84 percent.
For the period, Capital A’s consolidated outcome saw an increase in the number of passengers to 24.2 million, up by 404 percent year-on-year, while passenger capacity stood at 28.93 million, up by 345 percent YoY.
This resulted in 84 percent load factor, just one percentage point away from achieving pre-Covid load factor.
AirAsia Philippines operates daily flights from Manila to Bacolod, Cebu, Cagayan, Davao, Iloilo, Kalibo, Caticlan (Boracay), Puerto Princesa, Tacloban, Tagbilaran, and Zamboanga. Other inter-island destinations flying out of AirAsia’s Cebu hub, meanwhile, include Cagayan, Davao, Caticlan, Puerto Princesa, and Clark.
Aside from strengthening its presence in the domestic market, AirAsia also aims to boost tourism across ASEAN. By March 2, AirAsia Philippines will begin to fly to Taipei out of the Cebu Mactan International Airport.
AirAsia Philippines’ active international destinations include Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Bangkok, Singapore, Taipei, Osaka, Incheon, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Bali.
The budget airline fully commits to improve its on-time performance (OTP), having registered an average of 80 percent in January and 85 percent in the first two weeks of February.
