Air Asia Philippines said Wednesday it posted a net loss in the second quarter of the year  due to the travel restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The budget airline, which is majority owned by Representative Mikee Romero and wife Shiela Romero, said net loss amounted to P2.31 billion in the second quarter of the year form P353 million net income in the same period last year. 

Air Asia Philippines recorded a total revenue of P129 million in the April to June period, down from P7.51 billion in the same period last year. 

The airline said passenger volume reached only 29,111, lower by 99 percent  from 2.22 million passengers it flew in the same period last year. 

The airline hibernated its fleet from March 20 to June 4 because of the COVID-19 outbreak.  Load factor fell by 36 percentage points to 55 percent from 91 percent.

“AirAsia Group has been severely affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic. AirAsia temporarily hibernated most of its fleet across the network in late March 2020 due to increasing movement restrictions and only slowly easing up with domestic travel in end May early June,” Air Asia Berhad said. 

Air Asia resumed limited domestic and international commercial flight schedules after Metro Manila reverted to the general community quarantine.

The airline resumed flights between Cebu and Davao and Clark and Davao as well as from Manila to Davao, Tacloban, Bacolod, Caticlan, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Kalibo, Puerto Princesa and Iloilo.

Air Asia also fly between Manila and Kuala Lumpur. 

“Reviving domestic travel is high on our priority list as an opportunity to strengthen our domestic position in all of our key operating markets. Demand is expected to build up in  third quarter of 2020 and fourth quarter of 2020, supported by both business and leisure travel,” Bo Lingam, president (Airlines) of AirAsia Group Berrhad said. 

“With lockdowns being lifted, consumers are keen to explore vacation spots in their own respective countries.  By fourth quarter of 2020, we expect to run at 70 to 75 percent  domestic capacity for AirAsia Malaysia, 60 percent for AirAsia Philippines and 35 percent for AirAsia Indonesia,” he added. 

AirAsia Thailand and AirAsia India, which have been ramping up at a faster pace, are expected to recover to 105 percent  and 75 percent of pre-Covid-19 domestic capacity by the end of the year.