The airline, in a statement on its results for financial year ended December 31, 2012 (FY2012), said its load factor remained strong at 80%.

Its affiliates – Malaysia AirAsia, Thai AirAsia and Indonesia AirAsia – took in an additional 17 aircraft, bringing the total fleet size of the group to 113 at the end of last year. 

(118 aircraft including Philippines’ AirAsia and AirAsia Japan).

In the fourth quarter (4Q12) the group recorded a slight increase in load factor to 81% from 80% in the same period in 2011. It flew 9.09 million passengers, a 15% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase compared to 7.9 million passengers in the same quarter a year ago.

Meanwhile, Malaysia AirAsia posted a high load factor of 82% in 4Q12. It carried 5.2 million passengers, a 7% increase y-o-y. This is in line with the increase in capacity to cater to the additional frequencies on existing routes and the opening of five new routes namely Kuala Lumpur-Lombok, Kuala Lumpur-Nanning, Kuala Lumpur-Kunming, Kota Kinabalu Guangzhou and Kuala Lumpur-Solo (re-launched). It added five new aircraft this quarter, closing the year with a total of 64 aircraft.

Thai AirAsia carried 2.27 passengers in 4Q12, an increase of 25% from 1.8 million in 2011. Load factor rose 4% to 82%. Operating from Don Mueang International Airport since October 1, 2012 the airline has launched three new routes: Bangkok-Mandalay, Bangkok-Wuhan and Bangkok-Xian. it added two aircraft this quarter, which increased its fleet size to 27 aircraft at the end of 2012

Indonesia AirAsia too had a good last quarter, posting a strong load factor of 76% with 1.6 million passengers carried, a 29% increase y-o-y. For the full year the airline flew a total of 5.8 million passengerss. T

he 31% increase in capacity of Indonesia AirAsia, from 1.6 million in 2011 to 2.1 million last year, is to support its increase in frequencies and seven new routes added this quarter. These were Surabaya-Johor Bahru, Medan-Pekan Baru, Medan-Banda Aceh, Surabaya-Semarang, Surabaya- Jakarta, Ujung Pandang-Balikpapan, and Ujung Pandang-Jakarta. It has three additional aircraft in the quarter, ending the year with 22 aircraft.

                            AirAsia Group 4Q12 & FY2012 preliminary operating statistics