TAA, Bangkok Airways post high airfares in Q2. Thai AirAsia (TAA) has reported increased airfares of 42% for the first half, while Bangkok Airways registered a 36% uptick in the first half, though a weaker baht continued to affect airlines' profits. Bangkok Post

TAA, Bangkok Airways post high airfares in Q2

Thai AirAsia (TAA) has reported increased airfares of 42% for the first half, while Bangkok Airways registered a 36% uptick in the first half, though a weaker baht continued to affect airlines' profits.

TAA reported average airfares increased from 1,179 baht in the first half of 2022 to 1,673 baht in the first six months of this year.

Bangkok Airways recorded an average airfare of 3,643 from January to June, growing 36% from the corresponding period last year.

TAA passengers increased by 194% in the first half, allowing Asia Aviation Plc (AAV), its major shareholder, to secure total revenue of 19.6 billion baht.

However, although AAV posted a strong earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of 1.8 billion baht in the second quarter, the weaker baht was attributed for a loss of 1.01 billion baht, mostly from unrealised foreign exchange.

Another factor was rising airport charges, which are growing along with the number of passengers.

Santisuk Klongchaiya, chief executive of TAA, said its domestic routes remained strong in the second quarter with a load factor of 94% from 2.8 million passengers.

The airline hopes to gain a significant number of Chinese passengers in the second half after it increased flights to China to 108 per week with a capacity of 323,400 seats, accounting for 18% of its international capacity, he said.

TAA had the highest seat capacity for China-Thailand routes in the second quarter.

Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, president of Bangkok Airways, said the airline posted a net profit of 667 million baht in the second quarter and revenue of 4.96 billion baht, growing 178% and 97%, respectively.

Higher revenue derived mostly from ticket sales, accounting for 66%, an increase of 25% in the second quarter of this year compared with the corresponding period last year.

Bangkok Airways carried 913,000 passengers during the second quarter, totalling 2.02 million passengers for the first half. Its six-month load factor was 81.4%.

The airline reduced its fleet from 35 to 27 jets at the end of last year. Bangkok Airways' utilisation rate was 8.5 hours as of June.

TAA is operating 45 out of its 54 jets in the fleet, with an increasing utilisation rate of 12.4 hours per day as of June.