AirAsia ‘super app’ to aid having difficulties airline rebound from pandemic, suggests Fernandes

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 3): AirAsia Team Bhd main government officer, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, reported the global pandemic and region lockdowns that ensued last yr served as a terrific option for the business to perform on growing its “super app”.

The group’s website airasia.com has now been delivering airline and vacation-associated solutions. On the other hand, in October previous yr, it unveiled the rebranding of the “super application”, combining 15 types of products and solutions and solutions less than a few pillars — journey, e-commerce and fintech.

In accordance to Japan’s NHK World’s job interview with Fernandes not long ago, the app now has 16 million buyers a month.

He reported the airline is in a great placement to realize success provided its growing know-your-shopper (KYC) knowledge, and would like a non-airline small business to rival his airline company in a few years’ time.

“Just one of the best property of an airline is info. It is really KYC. It really is passport facts. We have ID information and facts. We have sturdy loyalty card facts. Individuals who fly have a little bit extra income, so there is also credit history card information and facts.

“If you just take a Get or a GoJet, they are normally transacting at a reduced worth, they may not have as a lot facts as we do more than the past 19 yrs. So figuring out what you want, we can personalise a ton of items and I feel which is one particular of our pros,” he mentioned in the movie job interview dated Feb 1.

The airline industry has been strike the toughest in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic as several flights are forced to be halted and airplane fleet briefly grounded, plummeting organization efficiency and forcing lots of to be out of position.

Fernandes claimed his purpose is for the airline to go on attracting clients at a very low selling price while producing revenue, and then choose the opportunity to promote other points digitally to the buyers. He additional that he hopes to use back again all the team that experienced to be enable go through the pandemic.

The budget airline observed its worst quarter all through the next quarter of very last yr at the peak of lockdown measures in Malaysia and close to the area, as revenue dipped 96% to RM118.96 million as of June 30, 2020 as opposed with RM2.92 billion in the former year when it registered a web reduction of RM992.8 million versus a net profit of RM17.3 million a year previously.