The airline also said it was seeing strong demand for the third quarter, and expects a load factor – a measure of how full planes are – in home country Malaysia of 90 per cent in the third quarter, from 87 per cent in the second quarter.

“In Malaysia, demand remains extremely robust and we foresee this to improve in the coming quarters as consumer sentiment is picking up in the domestic economy,” AirAsia Group Chief Executive Tony Fernandes said in a statement.

Fernandes, best known for transforming AirAsia into Asia’s biggest budget carrier after founding it with two aircraft a decade ago, is now focused on accelerating the company’s growth in large markets such as India.

The airline also forecast 80-per cent-plus load factors for Thailand, Indonesia, India and the Philippines.

Net profit for the three months through June jumped to RM341.9 million from RM243 million a year earlier. That compared with the RM326 million average of four analyst estimates compiled by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue was RM1.62 billion, 23 per cent higher than a year ago.

Last week, AirAsia confirmed it was considering options for its leasing arm, Asia Aviation Capital (AAC), including a potential sale, weeks after Reuters reported the airline was looking to sell a majority stake in AAC, or possibly the entire business, which the carrier values at RM4.1 billion.

AirAsia’s share price has more than doubled this year and closed at RM2.99 on Monday after rising to a three-year high this month, lifted by plans for AAC and as analysts raised their earnings estimates for the airline.