AirAsia Bhd, Asia’s biggest budget airline by passenger traffic, saw its fourth-quarter profit drop 19 per cent on higher expenses for fuel and aircraft maintenance.
Net profit for the three months ended Dec 31 fell to 245.4 million ringgit, while net profit for the full year stood at 364.1 million ringgit.
Tony Fernandes, the flamboyant AirAsia boss, had earlier savaged state-backed flag carrier Malaysian Airlines and the nation’s aviation authorities, accusing them of mismanagement that was harming the travelling public.
The budget airline mogul posted the comments on his Twitter feed a day after fierce rival Malaysia Airlines (MAS) announced it had lost a whopping 1.17 billion ringgit (USD 355 million) in 2013.
“AirAsia Allstars, take a bow. Malaysia Airlines lost over a billion,” Tony Fernandes tweeted.
