AirAsia Group wrote off MYR28 million ($6.88 million) in aircraft lease payments owed to it by Indonesia AirAsia X (IAAX) during the quarter ended December 2018.
The airline disclosed the write-off in an investor presentation following the release of its full-year and fourth quarter results. It did not disclose any further details of the debt.
Cirium’s Fleets Analyzer shows that at the start of the quarter IAAX operated five Airbus A320s, of which two were leased from AirAsia. It also had two A330-300s in its fleet.
AirAsia Group’s accounts for the quarter show that it received rental lease income of MYR17.5 million from IAAX, and paid MYR25.2 million to it for wet-leases.
AirAsia does not have a direct shareholding in IAAX, but sister company AirAsia X Group holds a 49% stake in the Indonesian carrier.
AirAsia X announced in November that its Indonesian affiliate would cease scheduled operations in January, with plans to focus on charter operations. Fleets Analyzer shows it now only operates a single A330.
The writedown by AirAsia X was one of a series of one-off items that drove it to an operating loss of MYR220 million for the period. Those included costs associated with its 79 aircraft sale to BBAM; severance packages for staff at leasing unit Asia Aviation Capital, MYR60 million for doubtful third-party charter debts; and staff bonuses.
Those items aside, the carrier states that its normalised fourth-quarter profit would have been MYR98 million
Source: Cirium Dashboard
