KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines' parent Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) posted a net profit of RM1.15 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, its best ever quarterly performance.
This was on the back of RM3.80 billion revenue.
MAG group managing director, Captain Izham Ismail said the result, which the group had not seen since the last two decades, was driven by robust demand for air travel and higher yields for passenger and cargo segments.
He said the stellar performance was also driven by effective cost management and cashflow optimisation.
For the full year ended December 31 2022, MAG recorded 79 per cent lower net loss and over 100 per cent increase in revenue.
The group registered a net loss of RM344 million from RM1.65 billion a year ago on the back of RM10.75 billion in revenue with cash balance that stood at RM4.56 billion.
Izham said he did not expect the group to be profitable in 2023 as the aviation industry was facing several challenges this year.
The challenges included rising fuel cost, the performance of the ringgit against the US dollar, the global economic uncertainties due to Russia and Ukraine war, inflation, and supply chain bottlenecks especially the supply of aircraft spare parts.
"MAG remains very cautious. In 2023, we recommence hedging (at about 15 per cent) with a strong healthy cash balance…In 2022 and 2021 we had zero (fuel) hedge due to the restructuring.
"We also remain very cautious with foreign exchange (forex) as well. The forex movement today is within our budget," he said at a media briefing on MAG's 2022 performance here today.
Moving forward, Izham said MAG would continue its recovery by creating more codeshare and interline partnerships with other airlines while growing its own capacity in the region including India.
He said the growing Indian economy had resulting in increasing travel demand from India and MAG's subsidiary, Malaysia Airlines was looking at flying 60 weekly flights to India by end-2023.
Currently, Malaysia Airlines operates 49 weekly flights to Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad from Kuala Lumpur.
MAG group chief strategy and transformation officer Bryan Foong added that the group's planned growth in India helped with its overall network flow in terms of feeding passengers to other parts of its network.
For China, he said the group was taking a cautious approach this year but it planned to explore new opportunities for growth in the country in 2024.
"We've been monitoring the progress of the China market as it opens up but for now our key emphasis is on the India network," he added.