Asia Aviation (AAV), major shareholder of Thai AirAsia, reported revenue of Bt8.95 billion, up 16 per cent from the first quarter of 2015, and net profit of Bt1.83 billion.

The budget airline served 4.4 million passengers and had a load factor of 88 per cent, up 5 percentage points from the same period last year, with a fleet of 47 Airbus A320s.

The airline added 10 flight routes, both domestic and international, in the first four months of the year. One notable addition was its first direct flight from Thailand to Laos, completing Thai AirAsia’s coverage of the CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) countries.

Tassapon Bijleveld, chief executive officer of AAV and an executive of Thai AirAsia, said the airline focused on adding more routes in order to maintain the airline’s leadership both domestically and internationally. He said the company’s efforts, coupled with the stable political situation in Thailand and its effects on the tourism sector, led AAV to achieve very satisfactory results.

|Second quarter

For the second quarter and the rest of the year, Thai AirAsia says it will maintain its targets of serving 17 million passengers, increasing its fleet to 50 aircraft and adding even more routes.

The airline says it plans to leverage its extensive network to offer a larger variety of routes from its six hubs to penetrate both the tourist and commercial markets further and use new technologies to manage its costs efficiently.

Bangkok Airways yesterday also announced its operating results |for the first quarter. Revenue |was Bt7.77 billion, increasing from the same quarter last year by 15.5 per cent and it reported a net profit of Bt1.57 billion, up by 44.9 per cent.

Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, president of the airline, said the improving performance was mostly contributed by growth in the number of passengers and better average fare income, together with declining fuel costs.

The number of passengers carried by Bangkok Airways in the quarter rose by 10.5 per cent. The number of passengers from points-of-sale in Asia (excluding Thailand) grew by 18.2 per cent, largely supported by increases in Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Myanmar and Taiwan.

The average passenger load factor increased from 71.9 per cent in the same quarter last year to 74.4 per cent. Passenger yield per kilometre was Bt5.44, up by 4.5 per cent.

The airline recently took delivery of three brand-new aircraft, consisting of two ATR 72-600s and one Airbus A319. Bangkok Airways’ fleet now consists of 33 planes: 13 ATR 72-500s and ATR 72-600s and 20 Airbus A319s and A320s.

Two or three more planes will|be delivered to the company this year.