KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 3): AirAsia Bhd carried 12% more passengers at 9.89 million across the budget airline's operations in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines in the third quarter, from 8.83 million a year earlier, on strong and sustained demand for air travel.

In a statement, AirAsia said capacity or number of seats flown rose 14% to 11.4 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2017 (3QFY17), from 9.98 million. The company said load factor or number of passengers carried as a percentage of capacity, fell to 87%, from 88%.

AirAsia said operations across Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines "ended the quarter with a fleet size of 110 aircraft, comprised of 80 aircraft registered in Malaysia (AirAsia Bhd), 14 in Indonesia (PT Indonesia AirAsia) and 16 in the Philippines (Philippines AirAsia Inc)."  

AirAsia said it consolidates financials of its operations across Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines for financial reporting purposes.

The group's operations include Thailand and India under Thai AirAsia and AirAsia India, respectively.

"Thai AirAsia reported a load factor of 85%, up by 1 percentage point from the same quarter last year. The number of passengers carried during the quarter was 4.93 million, an increase of 14% year-on-year, which was higher than the 13% growth in seat capacity.

"AirAsia India carried 1.17 million in 3Q17, an increase of 99% or close to double that of the same quarter last year. Load factor was reported at 85%, down by 3 percentage points year-on-year, following a 104% increase in capacity," AirAsia said.

At Bursa Malaysia, AirAsia shares were traded at RM3.42 at 3:14pm. The stock saw 1.19 million shares traded.