Annual Report 2020

a country by country basis, performance has depended on the severity and effectiveness of initiatives undertaken to break the chain of infection. Among major economies, China emerged with positive GDP growth of 2.3% while, within Asean, Vietnam has been a frontrunner in recovery, its GDP expanding 2.9% year-on- year (y-o-y). Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, meanwhile, saw their GDPs shrink by 5.6%, 7.1%, 1.9% and 9.6% respectively. Although almost all economic sectors have been affected, travel and tourism have been among the worst hit due to restrictions on domestic travel and, more importantly, international border closures which have yet to be reversed. According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), global revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) dropped by 65.9% y-o-y, marking the sharpest decline in aviation history with the total number of passengers carried decreasing by 60%. The number of international passengers flown dropped by 75.6% while capacity reduced by 68.1% and the passenger load factor fell 19.2 percentage points to 62.8%. Domestic travel fared a little better, as movement restrictions were relaxed intermittently within national borders. ICAO reports a 48.8% reduction in domestic demand y-o-y with capacity shrinking by 35.7% and the load factor dropping 17 percentage points to 66.6%. OUR RESPONSE TO THE CRISIS As a going business concern, it has been imperative for AirAsia to ensure the ability to survive and recover stronger following a period that has been described as nothing less than catastrophic for airlines. This saw the Group launch into the most stringent cost containment efforts while ensuring sufficient liquidity, as well as protecting the safety of our Allstars and guests. In keeping with our DNA – of being guest obsessed – we also continued to do everything possible to manage the hundreds of thousands of guests whose flights were disrupted. At the same time, as mentioned above, the pandemic provided the opportunity to push full steam ahead with the development of our non-airline digital businesses. SAFETY, ALWAYS OUR TOP PRIORITY Safety has always been the single most critical aspect of our flight operations. In 2020, this extended to ensuring minimum risk of contracting the virus from travelling with AirAsia. No stone was left unturned in adhering to all relevant regulations as well as guidelines issued by local governments and regulators as well as civil aviation and health authorities, including the Malaysian Ministry of Health (MoH), WHO and ICAO. In addition to implementing the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for any public facility – such as temperature checking, enforcing the use of face masks and physical distancing – we have been encouraging the application of various contactless procedures to protect our guests as well as airport personnel. These include checking in and obtaining boarding passes as well as baggage tags online; and making use of our automated baggage drop service as well as FACES, our biometric facial recognition system that does away with the need to have one’s passport checked physically at the boarding gate. This year, we also tested a Passenger Reconciliation System (PRS) at klia2 which allows guests to scan their boarding passes, doing away with the need for any physical exchange between guests and security personnel at any point in guests’ trajectory through the airport. 63 ANNUAL REPORT 2020