Good times at region’s airlines

April 1st 2024

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All categories of most Indo-Asia Pacific carriers reported robust profit increases at first quarter 2024 close. Read More » Energetic LCC, Cebu Pacific, more than doubled its net profit, to US$39 million, in the quarter, as did regional airline, Bangkok Airways. It turned in a net profit of US$51 million for the three months as travel to Thailand has boomed. And although fellow Thailand airline, Thai Airways International (THAI), reported an 80.7% profit decline, the US$66 million result for the first three months of this year was a major improvement over years of THAI losses. Elsewhere in the region, Taiwan’s EVA Airways delivered a quarterly profit of US$145 million to its shareholders and Fiji Airways recorded its first fiscal year in the black, with a profit of US$58 million, since 2019.

Japan’s appeal to the region’s travellers continues to attract several of the region’s airlines into the market, particularly in the LLC sector, creating intense competition for the country’s own airlines. But in the recent Golden Week peak holiday – from April 27 to May 6 – domestic traffic was healthy. All Nippon Airways flew 1.2 million domestic passengers in the 10 days, up from 1.1 million passengers flown in the year ago holiday. Its rival, Japan Airlines, did not fare so well, with a 7.1% decline in domestic customers transported in the 10 days, but passenger load factor held at 72.1%. Although not within the region, the results of Gulf carriers reflect air travel demand as so much passenger traffic emanates from Asia and is fed to Europe from the United Arab Emirates. Dubai’s home carrier, Emirates Airline, has reported an impressive full-year profit of US$4.7 billion to March 31, up 63% from a year ago. Revenue improved by 12.9% for the 12 months, it said, because Emirates had moved quickly to capture the rapid post-pandemic industry recovery.