KUALA LUMPUR — Long-haul budget carrier AirAsia X suffered an after-tax loss of 519.3 million ringgit ($143. 5 million) in 2014 mainly due to high operating costs and currency depreciation, the company said late Tuesday.
The loss was nearly six times higher than the 88.3-million-ringgit loss in 2013 suffered by the affiliate of Malaysia's AirAsia.
The company's total revenue in 2014 rose by 27.3% to 2.9 billion ringgit, from 2.3 billion ringgit in the previous year, but operating expenses increased by 44.8% to 3.3 billion ringgit.
The company added that due to the weakening of the ringgit against the US dollar, it had recorded millions in foreign-exchange losses on borrowings and fuel-hedging contracts.
"Our company is faced with challenges in a difficult industry-wide operating environment," it said.