AirAsia said in a statement that the group posted a net loss of 51.44 million ringgit (12.33 million U.S. dollars) in the third quarter, as compared to a net profit of 915.88 million ringgit in the same period of last year.
However, its revenue rose 17.54 percent year-on-year to 3.07 billion ringgit, driven by a 20-percent year-on-year increase in passengers carried to 13 million.
For the nine-month ended Sept. 30, the group's net profit also slumped to 80.72 million ringgit, from 2.42 billion ringgit.
Its revenue for the period, however, rose to 9.09 billion ringgit, from 7.78 billion ringgit.
The board remained positive that the group's core performance would be positive in the last quarter of the year.
"As the group reposition the business to adapt to the evolving business environment along with new accounting treatment and restructured aircraft ownership, we look forward to a better year in 2020," it said.
The group received its first A321neo that would be operated on populous routes and at airports with infrastructure constraints. Initially, it will operate the A321neo from its Kuala Lumpur hub to cities across Asia, with the first destinations including Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Bangkok and Shenzhen.
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