Bright prospects for MAS from international passengers

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POSITIVE TURNAROUND: MAS growth prospects and turnaround has been viewed as positive, attributable to the robust influx of its international passengers.

KUCHING: Malaysia Airlines Systems Bhd’s (MAS) growth prospects and turnaround has been viewed as positive, attributable to the robust influx of its international passengers.

According to analyst Jerry Lee of RHB Research Institute Sdn Bhd (RHB Research) in a recent research note, MAS’s April operating statistics were encouraging as load factor rose 590 basis points (bps) to 77 per cent.

Elaborating further on MAS’ operating statistics, Lee said, MAS’ April statistics indicate that the airline experienced decent growth as its overall load tonne kilometres (LTK) improved by 19.4 per cent year on year (y-o-y) while revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) jumped 23.5 per cent y-o-y.

Additionally, he highlighted, the airline’s load factor rose 380 bps y-o-y, driven mainly by the international passenger segment (an increase of 24.6 per cent y-o-y in RPK and an increase of 450 bps y-o-y in load factor).

“We expect MAS to see softer growth as the second quarter of the calendar year is a seasonally weaker one for all airlines.

“Having said that, we expect positive growth on y-o-y basis, especially in the international passenger segment, as we believe that the airline’s participation in the oneworld alliance is a boost, especially in the airline’s efforts to turn around,” Lee opined.

Meanwhile, MAS yesterday announced that it has posted a higher pre-tax loss of RM278.457 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013 from a pre-tax loss of RM169.33 million recorded in the same period last year.

Revenue, however, was higher at RM3.545 billion, during the period under review, from the RM3.114 billion registered in the previous corresponding period.

The airline registered a RM147 million positive cash balance from its operating activities in the first three months of this year, compared with a negative cash position of RM202 million in the previous corresponding period.