AirAsia Group Bd (AAGB) has proactively controlled power amid the COVID-19 pandemic, says MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd, which enables low-cost airlines to maintain their fair load factor.

The MIDF said that the AAGB combined AOC (Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines) passenger load factor was similar to the safe level of 80%, at 78% in the first quarter of 2020 (1Q20).

Given the turnover of passenger kilometers (RPKs), this contract for the quarter under review was 27.0% year on year (YoY).

'The load factor, particularly in February and March 2020, was deemed manageable by proactive capacity management,' it said today in the research notes.

Malaysia was the main contributor to the drop in passengers carried in 1Q20 by a total of 2,3 million passengers among the three AOCs, reflecting a decrease in the YOY at 27.0 percent.

AirAsia Thailand (TAA) is believed to be following suit, and operating figures are decreasing. Operations of TAA have seen the drops of 30 percent YoY and 35.0 percent YoY respectively in average seat kilometers (ASK) and RPK during 1Q20.

"The TAA network was redrawn due to growing travel restrictions and redeployment of excess capacity for domestic sectors using frequency reductions and air suspension on international routes.

"As such, the load factor fell from 90.0.0% a year ago to 84.0% by 6.0% points," it said.