Although a weaker baht continued to have an impact on airlines’ profits, Thai AirAsia (TAA) reported a 42% increase in first-half airfares, while Bangkok Airways recorded a 36% increase.
According to TAA, the average cost of a flight rose from 1,179 Baht in the first half of 2022 to 1,673 Baht in the same period this year.
From January through June, Bangkok Airways reported average fares of 3,643, an increase of 36% from the same time previous year.
TAA passengers climbed by 194% in the first half, generating 19.6 billion baht in total income for Asia Aviation Plc (AAV), the company’s largest stakeholder.
The weaker baht was blamed for a loss of 1.01 billion baht, primarily from unrealized foreign exchange, even though AAV reported solid earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of 1.8 billion baht in the second quarter.
Rising airport fees, which increase in tandem with the amount of travelers, was another issue.
TAA’s chief executive, Santisuk Klongchaiya, reported that its domestic lines continued to perform well in the second quarter, with a load factor of 94% and 2.8 million passengers.
The airline expanded flights to China to 108 per week with a capacity of 323,400 seats, representing for 18% of its international capacity, he added. The airline hopes to attract a sizable number of Chinese passengers in the second half of the year.
In the second quarter, TAA had the largest seat capacity on routes between China and Thailand.
According to Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, president of Bangkok Airways, the airline reported second-quarter net income of 667 million baht and sales of 4.96 billion baht, both of which increased by 178% and 97%, respectively.
A 25% rise in revenue was recorded in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, with ticket sales accounting for 66% of the total.
Bangkok Airways handled 2.02 million passengers in the first half, including 913,000 passengers during the second quarter. It had a six-month load factor of 81.4%.
At the conclusion of the previous year, the airline downsized its fleet from 35 to 27 jets. As of June, Bangkok Airways’ utilization rate was 8.5 hours.
As of June, TAA was using its fleet of 54 planes for an increasing 12.4 hours per day, operating 45 of them.
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SOURCE: http://bangkokpost.com
