Articles tagged “airasia”

It’s finally happened. AirAsia.com is selling other airlines on its website and app. Powered by Kiwi.com, it's a start. Getting direct contracts with airlines is next. Should online travel agencies continue to doubt AirAsia's foray into their turf? “Believe the unbelievable,” CEO Tony Fernandes said.

There are floors full of marketing folks and techies at Expedia, Booking.com, United, and American Airlines who are measuring whether consumers click faster on the yellow button or the red banner. Can airline websites afford to be cheerleader, confidante, and payment processor simultaneously? Very doubtful.

Closing islands for a rehab seems fashionable in Southeast Asia. It shouldn’t be. Authorities must first assess options carefully, and by no means should premature announcements be made. Just look at the Komodo Island example and the wrong messages Indonesia has sent about one of its most unique tourism assets.

AirAsia’s head honcho can’t wait to transform the airline — he's in the driver’s seat for AirAsia.com and pulling in the best of his troop on the journey. Second-quarter results, just out, show a rather promising platform.

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.