AirAsia.com shifts to OTA business model
AirAsia has made its next move to pivot towards becoming an integrated travel and lifestyle platform.
It has now expanded its AirAsia.com online services to include selling tickets on competitor airlines.
It partnered with travel platform Kiwi.com to list fares on more than 100 airlines to destinations AirAsia does not fly to.
It includes destinations in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East and the Americas.
The tie-up with Kiwi.com is initially a profit-sharing arrangement.
"You’ve got to separate AirAsia the airline and AirAsia.com as they are two different companies and two different products. Today is the start of the journey. AirAsia airline and AirAsia X will continue to do what it’s doing," said AirAsia Group CEO Toy Fernandes.
"AirAsia.com will fly anywhere. That’s our relationship with Kiwi and we will develop our own relationship with airlines that like us and want to work with us."
That will include separate profit-sharing direct with airlines in the future, Fernandes says.
It kicked off the new business model with a promotional all-in return fare to Madrid from Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Jakarta and Sydney from only RM99.
AirAsia is sponsoring this week’s Madrid Davis Cup tournament.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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