Low-cost carrier AirAsia said on Monday it had recorded increases of over 50 percent in its January and February passenger traffic in figures for the airline and its Asian associates.

Figures for January showed an increase of 50.3 percent or some 800,786 million passengers carried in total by AirAsia compared to 532,667 a year earlier for the same month, it said in a statement.

AirAsia in Malaysia recorded an increase of 31 percent, Thai AirAsia a gain of 60.7 percent and Indonesia AirAsia, which started operations in December 2004, a huge gain of 236.0 percent.

"The number of aircraft grew from the time it was launched," an AirAsia spokesperson told AFP of Indonesia AirAsia's increase in passengers.

Increase in profits

For the month of February, AirAsia's total operations recorded an increase of 54.8 percent in traffic, with 776,568 passengers compared to 501,798 a year earlier, it said in a second statement.

AirAsia recorded an increase of 41.2 percent, Thai AirAsia flew 58.8 percent more passengers and Indonesia AirAsia rose by 145.5 percent.

The totals represent the number of seats flown by AirAsia, regardless of whether passengers turn up, since the airline does not issue refunds for no-shows, the group said.

AirAsia was launched as a budget carrier in December 2001 with just two aircraft, and is now southeast Asia's biggest low-cost carrier in terms of fleet size.

AirAsia in February said its profits rose to RM53.4 million in the second quarter to December from RM44.4 million a year ago, due to higher loads and fares during the festive season.