Skift Take

AirAsia has been on the path of adding airlines to its roster of bookable partners over the last year or so. Despite its boasts, the jury's out on whether the airline can leverage these partnerships into becoming an online travel agency with significant market share in Southeast Asia.

AirAsia Group Bhd has partnered with more than 20 airlines as it builds up its Super App into an online travel agency that also sells flights by competitors, the Malaysian budget airline said on Thursday.

The airlines which joined airasia Super App as partners included Air Canada, Air France, Bamboo Airways, flydubai, KLM, Qatar Airways and Philippine Airlines.

AirAsia said the app has more than 700 airline partners and can reach over 3,000 destinations. It partnered Kiwi.com in 2019, a travel tech firm that allows users to build itineraries to combine flights and ground transportation from more than 800 carriers.

The new partnerships come as international travel gradually reopens after more than a year of slump due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We see a strong V-shape recovery in the coming months,” airasia Super App Chief Executive Officer Amanda Woo said at a briefing.

Woo said the app aims to capture a 30% market share and become the top Southeast Asian online travel agency in five years. It competes with online travel agencies like Agoda and Traveloka.

Through the collaborations, AirAsia will offer travel deals to more destinations outside its network across Europe, Oceania, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas.

(Reporting by Liz Lee; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

This article was from Reuters and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].

smartphone

The Daily Newsletter

Our daily coverage of the global travel industry. Written by editors and analysts from across Skift’s brands.

Have a confidential tip for Skift? Get in touch

Tags: airasia, online travel agencies, superapp

Photo credit: AirAsia Group's Tony Fernandes is bent on turning the airline into an online travel agency, as well. Air Asia Group

Up Next

Loading next stories