AirAsia's 3rd quarter net profit down

AirAsia released that net profit for the 3rd quarter fell 53% to 152.3m ringgit from 327.3m for the same period last year. Revenue rose 9.9% to 1.08bn ringgit from 979.7m last year, aided by an 8.0% rise in passengers, but fuel expenses rose 45% to 421.2m and staff costs rose 38% to 126.3m. AirAsia announced that based on forward booking trends, the three months to December for its Malaysian, Thai and Indonesian operations was positive but warned that the outlook “should be seen in the context of the current high price of oil and aviation fuel.”