By Chan Quan Min
Malaysia Airlines has posted another loss-making quarter with a reported operating loss of RM170 million and a pre-tax loss of RM572 million after including depreciation, amortisation, impairment and finance costs.
The losses were for the third quarter ended September and are 88% larger than the previous quarter or 54% larger than the same quarter last year.
Malaysia Airlines has been loss-making for the better part of the last five years leading government investment fund Khazanah Nasional to institute a RM6 billion restructuring plan to bring the airline back to profitability in three years’ time.
Reasons given by the airline for the deepening losses were the double impact of the MH370 and MH17 air disasters earlier this year and intense competition.
During the quarter the airline reported a load factor of 73%, a decline of 11.5 percentage points.
Passenger yield continued a downward trend and now stands at just 21.9 sen despite lower operating expenditure from declining fuel and non-fuel costs.
Malaysia Airlines has not begun to downsize its operations although Khazanah’s restructuring plan calls for a greater focus on regional routes.
According to the plan, long haul destinations might be rationalised and served instead with the help of oneworld alliance partners.
Notes to Malaysia Airlines’ third quarter results said, “whilst declining fuel prices have helped stem losses in our quarterly result, Malaysia Airlines continues to struggle despite efforts to reduce the financial bleeding.”
“Certain markets, particularly China, continue to pose challenges to return to previous levels. However, we are encouraged with recovery in other markets as reflected in the higher new booking intakes systemwide compared to the previous year,” it added.
You must be logged in to post a comment.