Southeast Asia’s largest budget carrier said it extended a financial assistance to its Philippine unit to support operations.
AirAsia Berhad said in a disclosure to Bursa Malaysia it provided a financial assistance to AirAsia Inc in the form of a $6.8-million loan.
“The financial assistance is in the ordinary course of business and to facilitate the running of the operations and financial affairs of AirAsia Inc.,” AirAsia Berhad said.
AirAsia Philipines and AirAsia X also announced a three million seat sale, which will connect passengers to over 100 destinations across 22 countries, including flights to and from Manila, Kalibo, Palawan, Bohol, Cebu, Davao, Tacloban, and international destinations in Korea, Malaysia, China, Macau and Hong Kong.
The promotional seats, which will be available for booking from March 7 to 13, start from P1 base fare, excluding applicable taxes and fees.
The travel period will be from October 1 to May 22, 2017.
”With AirAsia’s massive network in the whole of Asean and extending as far as India, Japan and China, we offer guests the convenience of connecting seamlessly and at the same time ensuring that they enjoy only the best quality service from us. Filipinos traveling from Manila, Cebu and Kalibo to Korea, China, Malaysia, Macau and Hong Kong would be thrilled to know that Red Hot One-Peso seat sale also include these amazing destinations,” Philippines AirAsia Commercial head Gerard Penaflor said.
AirAsia Inc. earlier reported a 46-percent decline in net loss to P3.09 billion last year from P5.18 billion in 2014.
The operator of Air Asia Philippines posted a net loss of P118.79 million in the October-to-December period from a loss of P1.28 billion in the same period last year.
“We are proud to have turnaround our operations [in the Philippines] in this quarter and achieved figures close to breakeven,” AirAsia Group chief executive Tony Fernandes said.
Fernandes said the company expects a similar trend this year with revenue improvement of 25 percent to 30 percent projected in first quarter of 2016 from a year ago.
The company’s revenues amounted to P8.93 billion last year, up 18 percent from P7.54 billion in 2014.
Air Asia Philippines carried 3.59 million passnegers in 2015 from 3.03 million last year, while load factor improved 11 points to 81 percent.
The airline currently has 14 operating aircraft servicing domestic destinations, such as Kalibo (Boracay), Puerto Princesa (Palawan), Tagbilaran (Bohol), Cebu and Tacloban. They also fly to China, Korea, Macau and Hong Kong.
Malaysia’s Air Asia, through AA International, owns 40 percent of Philippines’ Air Asia Inc., while Filipinos Marriane Hontiveros, Michael Romero, Antonio Cojuangco and Alfredo Yao hold the balance of 60 percent.