Malaysia Airlines has made a third quarter loss of 575.6 million ringgits ($167.5 million), bringing its total losses for the year to 1.3 billion ringgits.
The third quarter loss comes after it lost 442.4 million ringgits in the first quarter and 305.6 million ringgits in the second quarter. Operating revenue dropped to 3.3 billion ringgits in the third quarter of 2014, down from 3.8 billion ringgits for the same period of 2013. Year-to-date (YTD) revenue fell from 10.7 billion ringgits in 2013 to 10.2 billion ringgits for January to September 2014.
The airline says: “Malaysia Airlines continues to struggle despite efforts to reduce financial bleeding. Certain markets, particularly China, continue to pose challenges to return to previous levels.” It says results were affected by the loss of its Boeing 777 on flight MH370, which disappeared in the Indian Ocean in March and its second 777 on flight MH17, which was shot down over Eastern Ukraine in July.
In August, it was proposed that Malaysia Airlines should be privatised, which was approved on 6 November at its general meeting. “With the privatisation and transformation of Malaysia Airlines continuing to gather pace, the Group remains focused on driving revenue through aggressive marketing and promotions, better capacity management and optimising asset utilisation.”
Cargo figures for YTD bellyhold flights have improved, but capacity has increased faster than freight carried. Load tonne kilometres increased by 6.1 per cent to 977.6 million, while capacity tonne kilometres rose by 8.8 per cent to 1.3 billion. As such the load factor decreased by 1.8 percentage points to 70.9 per cent between January and September. In September, load tonne kilometres on bellyhold flights increased by 4.3 per cent, while capacity tonne kilometres rose by 1.7 per cent. The September bellyhold load factor rose by 1.9 percentage points to 77.3 per cent.
Malaysia Airlines cargo division, MASKargo, has seen its YTD load tonne kilometres fall by 0.9 per cent to 1.4 billion. Capacity tonne kilometres have risen by 1.6 per cent to 2.1 billion, which has resulted in the load factor dropping by 1.8 percentage points to 68.9 per cent. Freighter services have seen a greater fall, with the YTD load tonne kilometres falling by 12.6 per cent to 480.8 million and capacity tonne kilometres dropping by 9.6 per cent to 736.9 million. The January to September load factor has fallen by 2.3 percentage points to 65.2 per cent for freighter flights.
For freighters in September, load tonne kilometres fell by 3.7 per cent while capacity tonne kilometres rose by 0.5 per cent. In September the freighter load factor fell by 2.8 percentage points to 66.3 per cent.
For September, load tonne kilometres increased by 1.2 per cent year-on-year to 177.9 million for both bellyhold and freighter services. Capacity tonne kilometres also increased by 1.2 per cent to 244.2 million The load factor stayed the same at 72.8 per cent.
