Is MAS still EMAS?

ARCHIVES 2010

By admin-s On Aug 17, 2010

We all know that every single airline will face the rising costs in fuel so if so many other airlines in the region (with the exception of Quantas and PT Garuda) can reap profits, what happened to MAS?

By Masterwordsmith

The Malaysian Insider carried a report HERE about how our National carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) posted a net loss of RM535 million in the second quarter of this year despite a 26 per cent increase in revenue compared to the same period last year.

The report cited an 18 per cent increase in operating cost — both fuel and non-fuel — with derivative mark-to-market losses arising from fuel price volatility accounting for the bulk of it.

“Fuel prices and fuel costs [are] driving up many of the numbers,” said MAS managing director and CEO Tengku Azmil Zahruddin.

Inquisitive me did a bit of surfing to see if other airlines in our region have been hit by this increase in ‘fuel prices and fuel costs’.

A. Air Asia

TheStar reported HERE that AirAsia Bhd posted a 10.31% rise in net profit to RM224.11mil for the first quarter ended March 31 (Q1) compared with the same period a year ago on higher passenger volumes in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

Revenue increased 10.15% to RM878.04mil compared with the same period a year ago.

Passenger volume grew 17%, supported by average fares that were 13% lower at RM173 compared with RM198 while seat passenger load factor was 4% higher at 74%.

B. Singapore Airlines

BBC News reported HERE that Singapore Airlines (SIA) made a first-quarter profit of 253 million Singapore dollars ($184.7m; £119m) for the three months between April and June. The figure, which was above expectations, compares with a loss of S$307m for the same period a year ago. SIA, the world’s second-largest airline by market value, said the rebound was thanks to a rise in both passenger and freight traffic.

Interestingly, BBC News also quoted International Air Transport Association (IATA) which said this month that global airlines would collectively make $2.5bn in profit this year.

C. Thai Airways

According to a Reuters report posted HERE, Thai Airways reported a better-than-expected second-quarter net profit on August 16th 2010 as foreign exchange gains helped to offset lower passenger numbers during mass street protests.

The state-controlled carrier earned a net THB1.55 billion baht (USD$48.63 million) in the April-June quarter, against a THB5.40 billion net loss a year earlier, when it had foreign exchange losses and falling passenger numbers due to political unrest and the H1N1 flu outbreak.

Anti-government protests in Bangkok that began on March 12 turned deadly in April and ended with a military crackdown on May 19, leading to a sharp drop in tourism.

The airline’s outlook in coming quarters looks better, analysts said, as the political situation is expected to be more stable, plus the high season in the last quarter would boost passenger numbers.

D. Cathay Pacific

According to Air Transport World HERE, Cathay Pacific Airways posted net income of HK$6.84 billion ($881 million) in the 2010 first half, a more than eightfold increase over a HK$812 million profit in the year-ago period, an earnings jump that was helped by a 33.7% hike in revenue to HK$41.33 billion.