AirAsia tops other LCCs in performance

AIRASIA, named the World’s Best Low-Cost Airline in the annual Airline Survey by Skytrax for three consecutive years—2009, 2010, and 2011—added another award to its harvest of international accolades by winning the Top Performing Airlines (TPA) Report 2012 of Aviation Week.  The report is the leading annual rankings and competitive analysis for the global airline industry.

AirAsia emerged with 81 points, three ahead of Europe’s largest low-cost carrier Ryanair (78 points) and 11 ahead of Singapore Airlines (70 points) in the TPA, which measured the data and rated airlines in five different performance categories, particularly its financial and operational performance.

“This is just amazing. To beat airlines such as Singapore Airlines and Ryanair and all the other global industry players is almost beyond words. Who would have thought 10 years ago that in just over a decade, AirAsia would reach such celestial heights,” said AirAsia Group CEO Tan Sri Dr. Tony Fernandes in a statement.

“This award is recognition of the efforts of all our AirAsia AllStars over the years to get us to this special place. To be rated the No.1 airline in categories that included financial and operational sectors is a clear endorsement of our stewardship of the company and a vindication of the faith that our stakeholders have in AirAsia,” he added.

Aviation Week, the highly influential aviation-industry magazine in the United States, also ranked AirAsia as the highest in the $250-million to $2-billion annual revenue category. The magazine is part of The McGraw-Hill Cos., the largest multimedia information and services provider to the global aviation, aerospace and defense industries. Aviation industry professionals rely on Aviation Week for analysis, marketing and intelligence.

AirAsia is the leading and largest low-cost carrier in Asia, serving the most network with over 152 routes covering 77 destinations across Asia and Australia. In just 10 years of operations, it has carried more than 140 million passengers and grown its fleet from just two aircraft to about 100, said AirAsia Inc. CEO Maan Hontiveros.

Early last month AirAsia Philippines launched its first international flight to Kuala Lumpur from its hub in the country, Clark, which is expected to shake the tourism industry in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

According to the Asean Community figures of 2011, tourist arrivals in Asean alone reached almost 74 million last year, with Malaysia getting the biggest share, or one-third of these arrivals, or 24.5 million, against the Philippines’s 3.5 million. Thailand ranked second, with 15.9 million tourist arrivals, followed by Singapore with 11.6 million, Indonesia with 7 million and Vietnam with 5 million.

Of tourists who arrived in Asean, 47 percent came from within the association. Visitors from the European Union accounted for 10 percent; those from China accounted for 7 percent.

Sourced: businessmirror