亚航X即将开通夏威夷航线

蓝色生死恋

AirAsia X Bhd. plans routes to "exotic" destinations including Hawaii while dropping unprofitable ones to meet its forecast of returning to profit this year.

Flights to Adelaide and Nagoya will be scrubbed and Sydney trips will be less frequent as the airline slows its expansion to attain profit in 2015, Group Chief Executive Officer Kamarudin Meranun said in an interview Wednesday. The long-haul budget airline racked up net losses of more than $180 million since the last quarter of 2013 after "massive" capacity growth, he said.

The company is keen on flights to Hawaii and is working toward a process for approvals for the route, Kamarudin said. The numbers on Hawaii "look good," he said.

The airline, whose shares sank to a record low yesterday, was hemorrhaging cash even before Malaysia-related carriers lost three aircraft in accidents last year, emptying seats and denting the confidence of travelers. A plane belonging to a unit of AirAsia Bhd., AirAsia X's second-largest shareholder, crashed in Indonesia in December killing 162 people.

"The timing wasn't right," said Kamarudin, referring to the company's expansion. "Who can tell the challenges that we had in 2014. For now, we are managing it by cutting some of these routes so we will be able to handle that growth."

AirAsia X has announced plans to replenish capital and Kamarudin, co-founder of the broader AirAsia group, is bringing in a new set of managers to aid the turnaround. He said he is "fairly confident" of returning the Kuala Lumpur-based carrier to profit in 2015.

Malaysian Airline System Bhd. lost two aircraft last year - - MH370 in March and MH17 in July -- and an AirAsia Indonesia single-aisle jet plunged into the sea on Dec. 28 in the worst year for Asian aviation in decades.

2014 Accidents

The disasters dissuaded travelers even as slumping oil prices gave optimism to airlines in the region that they will be able to post profits even on low fares.

"It's hard to imagine that there could be a worse year for them compared to 2014," said Mohshin Aziz, an analyst at Malayan Banking Bhd. in Kuala Lumpur. "With the current oil price, it will be profitable in 2015."

AirAsia X was growing too much too fast and exhausted its capital, said Mohshin, who rates the carrier's shares as sell.

"Where I think AirAsia X falls flat was they were just too ambitious," said Mohshin. "They need to reorganize their capacity deployment, plan more accurately. They need to right- size their business relative to their addressable market."

AirAsia X, an arm of the region's biggest budget carrier, named Benyamin Ismail as acting CEO last month, succeeding Azran Osman-Rani, who had led the company through its 2013 initial public offering in Malaysia. Kamarudin now oversees the affiliates in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

AirAsia X operates a fleet of 25 A330 planes and is scheduled to take delivery of another six aircraft this year, followed by four in 2016, Kamarudin said. The carrier is exploring options to sell some planes and delivery slots, or defer deliveries, Benyamin said by phone Wednesday.

Competition from other carriers has been the main challenge for AirAsia X and it needs to arrest the steady decline in yields, said Tan Kee Hoong, an analyst at AllianceDBS Research Sdn. in Kuala Lumpur.

"Since the IPO, the yield has been falling almost every quarter, mainly on Australian routes," Tan said.

AirAsia X and other carriers are also benefiting from a fall in oil prices. Jet fuel prices have slumped about 40 percent since August last year, in line with the decline in oil.

The price decline is "massive" for AirAsia as a whole, Group Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes said in November.

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