How AirAsia is redefining the role of an airline in a write-up-COVID world

  • Headed by Tony Fernandes, price range airline AirAsia has this calendar year accelerated the rollout of its non-airline offerings
  • Important to the company’s transformation has been the start of a electronic vacation and way of living system and superapp
  • New electronic products and expert services consist of e-commerce, last mile shipping and delivery, electronic payments and an expanded rewards system
  • Fernandes thinks non-airline revenues will eventually match and then surpass airline earnings
  • Mainly because of his work, Small business Insider named Fernandes to our once-a-year list of the 10 leaders reworking supply chain in Asia.
  • Check out Organization Insider’s Reworking Organization homepage for more tales.

Less than the leadership of co-founder and CEO, spending budget flyer AirAsia has been disrupting the Asia airline market due to the fact functions to start with began in 2001. The Malaysian firm was final calendar year named the world’s best minimal-expense airline at the Skytrax Entire world Airline Awards. This was the 11th consecutive calendar year it had picked up the award.

Regardless of its groundbreaking good results, AirAsia has in recent several years been employing strategies to pivot toward a unified, all-in-1 electronic travel and life style platform. Small business Insider looks at how Fernandes and AirAsia are looking to redefine the position of an airline in a article-COVID globe.

Going from price range airline to electronic vacation and life style system

AirAsia has from the outset put digital and innovation at the coronary heart of its operations. It was, for example, the initial airline in the location to concentration on offering tickets straight on-line via its own web page, and these days all-around 85% of its clients e-book specifically by means of its internet site. 

From 2018, the corporation saw the likely to generate new revenue streams by developing an ecosystem of firms, all anchored on vacation and all leveraging off each other. The arrival of COVID-19 and the subsequent downtime of flights delivered the corporation with the chance to speedy-observe this digital transformation approach. 

“As I constantly say you have to evolve or you die in this business,” claimed Tony Fernandes. “The decision to pivot into a digital vacation and life style system truly commenced in 2018, very well before COVID-19 hit. Just one silver lining of the pandemic was that it authorized us to focus on and quick-keep track of our electronic transformation by expanding our non-airline corporations which not only delivers new earnings streams, but also produces new career alternatives for our staff members to be upskilled and pivot into new roles in the organization.”

The airline saw electronic transformation as a natural progression. Pre-COVID-19, the company’s web-site had 60 million regular website visitors, which adds up to a impressive database of  faithful customers. 

“I have usually been a organization believer in the electronic revolution,” adds Fernandes. “These days, info is king and we realised we experienced a huge opportunity to lengthen our individual belongings and leverage our potent brand name in Southeast Asia with our very own big and loaded information.”

Expanding the AirAsia products presenting

To facilitate the company’s digital transformation, the AirAsia Team split its functions into two main divisions – the airline by itself and the electronic organizations underneath ​AirAsia Digital​. Under the digital banner, the enterprise now has four crucial choices:

  • airasia.com In October, AirAsia re-launched the airasia.com brand name around the central principle of enabling its shoppers to fly, to remain, to shop and to try to eat, all from the convenience of one system. There are now 17 strains of company obtainable on the app like airasia food stuff (meal deliveries), airasia refreshing (groceries) and airasia store (retail), driven by AirAsia’s logistics arm Teleport. In addition, there is airasia Well being, which encourages professional medical tourism, Islam-compliant company IKHLAS, SNAP (flight and resort bundles) and a lot more.
  • Teleport AirAsia’s cargo and logistics division has transformed into a significant Southeast Asian e-commerce transportation supplier. The entity first focused on a cross-border e-commerce  shipping and delivery assistance, leveraging AirAsia’s flight networks to empower corporations to perform cross-border trade everywhere in Southeast Asia in 24-several hours. Adapting to post-COVID reality and recognising customers’ choice for home delivery orders, Teleport pivoted once much more to concentrate on final-mile deliveries, transporting parcels, cafe orders and fresh new deliver from airasia shop, airasia meals and airasia fresh new. Teleport now has in excess of 5,000 delivery associates, with deliveries readily available across 70 cities.
  • BigPay AirAsia’s digital payment provider started out out lifetime as a easy debit merchandise but now delivers dollars transfers, with remittances offered in 10 nations around the world like Malaysia and Singapore. The corporation states that loans, marketplaces, insurance and wealth products are all in the pipeline, and that BigPay is on track to develop into Southeast Asia’s first digital bank. BigPay has gained a provisional license for lending and end users will before long be able to implement for rapidly loans at minimal interest rates. ​BigPay is also targeting critical electronic licences in the Philippines and Thailand. The payment service at present has 1.2 million customers. 
  • Major Rewards Currently one particular of Southeast Asia’s most significant vacation and lifestyle benefits platforms with about ​35 million associates, Massive Benefits has advanced from an airline loyalty software to a broader life style rewards service, providing points redemption on a range of eating, browsing and amusement discounts. The system involves Massive Xchange, the 1st airways factors exchange platform, which enables Big Members to transform credit score card loyalty details from taking part banks into Massive Details.

Digital transformation now beginning to fork out off

As a end result of its accelerated digital transformation, AirAsia says it has witnessed major progress in conditions of buyer foundation, as properly as revenue and other essential metrics, for all non-airline business enterprise divisions in 2020. According to 2020 third-quarter effects, the non-airline subsidiaries grew by 182% and almost all non-airline company divisions are now financially rewarding. 

The firm states it expects non-airline revenues to add up to 50% of full AirAsia Team revenues in the next 3 to 5 yrs and slowly overtake the airline revenues in the extended expression.  

“As I often say, never squander a crisis,” suggests Fernandes. “We have lived through numerous before and this will be no diverse. We will use the prospect to extend our belongings and leverage our large and rich details and go destinations we have never ever been just before. For AirAsia, nothing is off the desk any longer. We will consider any option that would make commercial and viable sense. We are currently selling flights for other airlines, which includes our competitors on airasia.com and furnishing very last mile deliveries.”

In terms of the potential, AirAsia claims need for journey is however huge and that individuals however want to fly. Noting the pent up need for travel, the enterprise states it is currently observing with robust need for our domestic flights in its crucial markets of Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and India. 

Provided that for the duration of an financial downturn, minimal expense airways are normally more common, AirAsia thinks it is in a potent placement to get better more rapidly than numerous of its competition. The firm details out that 50% of its targeted visitors is domestic limited haul, when the majority of its buyers vacation for leisure somewhat than company, both of those useful for rapidly restoration. In addition, many of its important intercontinental marketplaces are in COVID-19 Green Zones, spots that are possible to reopen initially. 

“Air journey is below to stay and it will bounce again,” claims Fernandes. “I do believe we have weathered the storm. The worst is over. Our comeback is the most effective component of the tale and I see this as a never ending story. No virus will destroy the spirit of AirAsia. We will continue to innovate, adapt, recuperate and come back again stronger.”