Asia Aviation Plc (AAV) posted a 34% fall in third-quarter profit to reflect the performance of its affiliated low-cost carrier, Thai AirAsia (TAA).
SET-listed AAV saw net earnings in the July-September period drop to 260.9 million baht, compared with 396.6 million a year earlier.
AAV's results came amid a 35% decrease in TAA's net profit, which fell to 472.1 million baht from 729.2 million a year earlier, according to a filing with the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
TAA, 55%-owned by AAV, was hit by inflated fuel costs spurred by rising oil prices and coupled with a higher excise tax on jet fuel for domestic flights. Fares fell 7% on average in the period.
Passenger volume, meanwhile, grew by 14% to 4.93 million, surpassing the 13% growth in seat capacity.
TAA's third-quarter load factor was 85%, up one percentage point from a year earlier.
Both AAV and TAA reported a 7% increase in third-quarter revenue to the same amount of 8.73 billion baht.
For the first nine months of 2017, AAV saw a 45% decline in net profit to 1 billion baht while TAA's earnings fell 45% to 1.81 billion baht.
Tassapon Bijleveld, chief executive of AAV and TAA, said yesterday that the airline will continue to focus on expanding the network and adding more frequent flights on existing routes in the fourth quarter of 2017.
The third quarter saw TAA launch four new routes: from Bangkok to Maldives, Jaipur (India) and Tiruchirappalli (India), and from U-tapao to Hangzhou.
Furthermore, the airline scheduled more frequent flights on the Chiang Mai-U-tapao, Bangkok-Chiang Mai and Bangkok-Phitsanulok routes to accommodate growing domestic travel.
TAA, which carried 14.48 million passengers in the first nine months of the year, is on target to serve more than 19.5 million passengers for the whole of 2017, Mr Tassapon said.
AAV shares closed yesterday on the SET at 6.25 baht, down five satang, in trade worth 97.3 million baht.
