AirAsia Gets Into Event Ticketing, But Sorry, No Taylor Swift Tickets

AirAsia superapp, now rebranded as “airasia MOVE,” announced the launch of ticketing platform MOVETIX on Monday.

AirAsia said it has partnered with Dublin-based ticketing platform Coras to provide access to over 10,000 global events and activities.

“It is no secret that AirAsia’s strategy and direction is shifting, and the superapp (rebranding to MOVE) has been a one-stop solution for all of this,” said Hassan Choudhury, who will be spearheading MOVETIX.

Choudhury told Skift that music and sports are two big global trends, and that integrating those categories into the ticketing services will boost the app’s traffic, engagement and conversions to bundled travel products.

Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia parent company Capital A, told Skift last year that AirAsia would be ending its other operations in the superapp to focus on what it calls its bread and butter — travel.

Nadia Omer, CEO of airasia MOVE called entertainment an essential part of travel. “With MOVETIX, our app users can now book their entire trip seamlessly including flights, hotels, land transport and meals within one single cohesive ecosystem,” a press release quoted Omer as saying.

The Taylor Swift Phenomenon

The rapid sell-out of Taylor Swift tickets recently highlighted the high demand for live events in Southeast Asia.

“The Taylor Swift tickets sold out very quickly, but we expect AirAsia to be selling tickets for some of the biggest artists in the coming months,” Mark McLaughlin, CEO of Coras, told Skift.

To mark its launch, MOVETIX has been designated as the official ticketing partner for the upcoming StarHub Football Festival scheduled from April 20-21 in Singapore.

Customers typically purchase tickets for live events and sports as their initial product before securing flights and accommodation, McLaughlin said.

“Therefore, it makes sense for a brand with millions of customers in these markets to be selling tickets,” he said of AirAsia’s foray into the events ticketing.

AirAsia MOVE currently has a customer base of over 15 million monthly active users.

Chaudhury, who is also the CEO of RedRecords, a joint venture between AirAsia and Universal Music, is drawing on experience in the music industry.

“I hope that the relationships that have been built between labels, artists, management and promoters will help us get access to these events in order to give the best experiences to fans all over the region.”

Southeast Asia Emerges as a Powerhouse in Live Entertainment

Recognizing Southeast Asia as a significant growth market for live entertainment and sports, big artists are increasingly adding the region to global tours.

“Social media has brought artists and sports stars closer to their fans wherever they are and that data can be used to plan events if you know there is an audience waiting for them. Coras’s role is to connect tickets to fans wherever they are by integrating with ticketing software systems and then looking to partner with brands like AirAsia,” said McLaughlin.

Having already integrated with Sistic, Singapore’s largest ticketing agency and one of the country’s leading e-commerce players, Coras hopes to integrate with the leading ticketing systems in other countries.

“Southeast Asia, India and Japan are huge markets for live events and sport, we hope to be working with partners there as well,” McLaughlin said.

Coras’s network of distribution partners includes UK low-cost carrier Ryanair, U.S. carrier Frontier, Turkish low-cost carrier Pegasus Airlines, Iceland’s FlyPlay and Japanese marketplace Rakuten.