AirAsia X's fortunes are improving in the Australian market, after the low-cost carrier and rival Malaysia Airlines dramatically cut capacity between Australia and Kuala Lumpur in 2015. 
The   December quarter financial figures for long-haul, low-cost carrier AirAsia X show its Australian division swung to a pre-tax profit of 53.4 million ringgit ($17.9 million), up from a $90.5 million ringgit pre-tax loss for the same period the previous year. However, for the full calendar year AirAsia X reported a loss before tax of $232 million ringgit, or $77.6 million in Australian currency.
The latest available international capacity statistics for   November show AirAsia X lowered capacity by 13.7 per cent compared with a year earlier, as it pulled out of Adelaide and trimmed some frequencies to other Australian cities from its schedules.
Malaysia Airlines' capacity decreased 36 per cent over the same period, after it dropped Brisbane and lowered frequencies to other destinations, and it offers fewer seats a month now than AirAsia X.
Both carriers are benefiting from the fall in the fuel price, although some of those gains have been offset by the weak Malaysian currency against the US dollar.
AirAsia X chief executive Ben Ismail said the economics of his carrier's Sydney and Melbourne flights had "improved considerably", but Perth had been a tougher market, after fellow Malaysian carrier Malindo Air began daily flights to Kuala Lumpur in   November.
"It could be better," he said of Perth. "We have a Malaysian carrier that is pricing aggressively in the market."
Malaysia Airlines chief executive Christoph Mueller said in   February Perth had become more "price sensitive" as a result of Malindo's entry but his airline was "doing OK" because it was a more established brand.
Mr Ismail said AirAsia X's yields in the Australian market were rising, but they remained considerably lower than Malaysia Airlines, which is a full-service carrier with less-dense aircraft.
But he said Malaysia Airlines' decision to abandon Brisbane had proven positive for its Gold Coast route, with a bus company adding more capacity between Gold Coast and Brisbane to meet demand.
The airline is also launching flights between Gold Coast and Auckland, although Mr Ismail said much of the demand for that was Asian travellers heading to Auckland, rather than trans-Tasman travellers looking for a bargain.
AirAsia X received negative publicity in   February after passengers on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Gold Coast faced a 36-hour delay after two medical emergencies left passengers with an unexpected pit stop in Bali.
Mr Ismail said AirAsia X had done its best when faced with a difficult situation. The stop in Bali occurred after a passenger went into cardiac arrest after take-off from Kuala Lumpur, while the second emergency involved another passenger coughing up blood.
The crew then ran out of legal working hours, and an attempted take-off later that day was thwarted when some Indonesian passengers decided not to complete the journey to Gold Coast but had not informed authorities, meaning the plane couldn't leave until the next day.
Mr Ismail said the carrier had paid for food and hotel rooms for affected passengers and had refunded the cost of their Indonesian visas. The airline then offered free food on board when the aircraft finally completed the Bali-Gold Coast journey.