All Eyes on Airasia: Q3 result and dual listing in Thailand

PETALING JAYA: Several regional airlines have incurred huge losses in the third quarter of this year although demand for passenger air travel is trickling in, and it will be interesting to see what financial numbers the local carriers will report this week and next.

For AirAsia Bhd, analysts are upbeat that its financial results for the third quarter (Q3) ended September 30, 2009 will be good but they cannot say the same for Malaysia Airlines (MAS), even though the latter is expected to show better financial numbers for its fourth quarter.

“AirAsia’s financial numbers for Q3 should be pretty strong,’’ said an analyst. The airlines’s passenger growth in Q3 was said to be stable, with load factor at about 75.4%.

AirAsia group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes, in an SMS reply, said Q3 was always the weakest quarter “but we are happy with the results’’. The airline will release its results today.

For the first half-year ended June 30, AirAsia’s net profit was RM342mil on revenue of RM1.37bil. For Q2, it was RM139mil and RM657mil respectively. Analysts project RM513mil net profit and RM2.7bil sales for the full year.

Updates: AirAsia records net profit of RM130m in 3Q

Dual Listing

AirAsia has plans for a dual listing in Thailand to achieve its vision of becoming a full-fledged Asian airline, the New Straits Times reported Friday.

"The plan is to list AirAsia group in Thailand and later on in Indonesia. The performance of both associates is dramatically improving and we are working on a suitable structure to inject them into a common shares," Tony Fernandes, AirAsia's chief executive, was quoted as saying by the daily.

According to the daily, AirAsia is currently in discussions with lead arranger CIMB Group to map out its listing details.

"It is still too early to provide details and when and how many shares will be floated. But we are looking at issuing new shares," Fernandes said.