24 August 2021

AirAsia Group Bhd has launched its very own ride-hailing services dubbed as Airasia ride as the airline industry continues to struggle with the Covid-19 pandemic and travel bans.

The service is available on the Airasia.com application, which already offers services such as food and grocery delivery.

AirAsia chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said the group is also planning to roll out its ride-hailing service in other countries including Thailand and Indonesia.

“There are two phases of rollout with Malaysia as the first followed by Asean rollout.

“We will be very strong in the airports and in the tourism markets. People who like our ecosystem will begin to use us,” he told reporters at a virtual press conference on Tuesday.

He described the ride-hailing industry as a “zero-sum game” and that it was very important to prioritise customers’ safety and drivers’ wellbeing.

Airasia Super App CEO Amanda Woo said Airasia ride drivers would not only focus on moving people but also moving packages and food.

“There is also the potential for Airasia ride to integrate with Teleport, our logistics arm to complement the logistics and delivery services, tapping into the same pool of drivers for maximum efficiency and cost savings, apart from synergising with our e-commerce verticals, supplementing our existing last-mile delivery capabilities with greater capacity and reach,” she said.

Presently, Airasia ride has about 1,500 registered drivers and it is expected 5,000 to come on board in the next six months.

Amanda said by leveraging AirAsia data that was collected in the past 20 years, AirAsia ride is the new game-changer for the e-hailing and travel industry.

“AirAsia ride not only brings you from point A to B, but we offer a complete user experience for our passengers – pre-flight, during flight and post-flight,” she added.

Last November, AirAsia went into the food delivery industry dubbed as Airasia food to diversify its revenue after the airline group was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic that saw travel ban and movement restriction.

Fernandes said that for the next 12 months, AirAsia would be focusing on strengthening the group travel and delivery businesses.

“Next in the pipeline would see us venturing into express delivery, drone delivery and Airasia money,” he said.

AirAsia recently acquired Malaysian online food delivery platform DeliverEat for US$9.8mil (RM41.4mil) to further strengthen the group’s digital plan to cover the end-to-end logistics chain and e-commerce scene.

Last month, the company announced that it had acquired Gojeck’s operation in Thailand for US$50mil (RM211.3mil).

Source: AirAsia rolls out ride-hailing service