Bursa Securities announced today the airline’s classification as a Practice Note 17 (PN17) company will cease with effect from tomorrow.
In a media notification tonight, Bursa Malaysia said it had resolved to allow the lifting of the PN17 status after AAX met the requirement to announce a “profit after taxation attributable to the equity holders” in the quarterly report for the financial period ended Sept 30, 2023.
It said the medium-haul low-cost carrier met the condition on Nov 21. The airline was classified as a PN17 company on July 30, 2020.
In a filing with Bursa today, the airline said it posted a net profit of RM5.56 million for the quarter ended Sept 30, 2023, down 77.84% from the RM25.09 million gain achieved in the previous corresponding quarter.
The airline chalked up a revenue of RM648.36 million for the quarter, up from RM100.10 million in the same quarter last year for a 548% jump.
AAX said the surge in revenue was due to the recovery in international travel and its available seat capacity over the past 12 months.
It said its revenue in 2022 was primarily from its charter and freight services but this year, it expanded its fleet to 14 aircraft, enabling it to meet the increased demand for international travel.
While the third quarter coincides with the low season for travel, leading to lower sales traditionally, it nonetheless posted a 53% increase in sales compared with the same period before the outbreak of Covid-19.
It said that with the fleet expansion, staff and maintenance costs have also risen. The number of pilots has increased by 40% while that of cabin crew is up 131%.
Maintenance cost has risen in tandem with both the higher utilisation of aircraft and a weakening of the ringgit against the US dollar.
AAX said it would maintain the momentum of fleet recovery and by the end of December, it should have at least 16 aircraft in operation.
It said it would continue relaunching key profitable routes and maintain its focus on the potential coming out of China as the country’s international travel traffic recovers.
Apart from strengthening the airline’s position within markets that it operates in, the group has also announced that it will soon service Almaty, Kazakhstan, to expand its reach into other regions of the world.
AAX’s share price ended the day three sen or 1.45% higher at RM2.10, giving it a market capitalisation of RM938.85 million.