Articles tagged “airasia”

A leaner and freshly funded BeMyGuest is in a stronger position to harness the growth of Asia’s tours and activities sector. But competition is also mightier.

Lots of companies have plenty of data at their disposal to improve operations and personalize services. Whether AirAsia has the wherewithal to become a much broader e-commerce platform is a very open question.

Who’s afraid of shifting the business model? Not Tony Fernandes, who transformed Asia’s airline industry and could take huge credit for the rise of Asian travel in the last two decades. Will his next transformation be as huge?

Here's a riddle: If Traveloka sells lifestyle services and AirAsia is not just an airline, what is an online travel agency? The industry will have to coin a new term since everyone is starting to sell more than just flights and hotels. Any suggestions?

Tony Fernandes is taking AirAsia on "the final part of the company's evolution," one that will see the airline become a tech player. But it’s one thing to disrupt legacy carriers, and another to disrupt the disruptors in the online travel space. He disagrees, of course.

Any form of industry players conspiring to protect their self-interests should be thoroughly investigated. Hopefully this unsettling episode in Indonesia will end soon and everyone can go back to booking the best deal they can get without lame invisible hands interfering with the process.

As an airline, AirAsia has led its peers in many metrics, especially on cost control. But its new effort to nurture startups has the odds against it. Will this effort bring strategic gains for the company? We’ll know in a few years.

Tony Fernandes' vision for AirAsia's digital platforms is taking shape. He wants his airline to be your true travel companion. Watch out OTAs.

Two things about AirAsia that its group CEO Tony Fernandes is most proud of are (gasp) the airline’s inflight food and (clap) that it hires a lot of female pilots. From the creator of the tagline, "Now everyone can fly," soon everyone can eat "sambal" without flying.

Can a budget carrier like AirAsia also be an aspirational brand, and a hotel and activities booking site? The dual operations — running an airline and an online-travel-agency-like operation — seem like a big stretch. That's especially so when the airline is facing intense pressure from rising fuel costs.