Articles tagged “airasia”

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.

After a slew of acquisitions in 2014 and 2015, Expedia is focused on investing and executing. A sustained and rationally exuberant approach may work better in various markets in Asia Pacific this time around than previous efforts.

This is probably a good business decision. Economy class fares from Asia to the United States and Europe are already low, because there's so much competition. The market probably doesn't need another entrant — at least for now. And who knows? Air Asia X might change its strategy at some point.

The low-cost, long-haul model will come to Asia, says AirAsia's Tony Fernandes, if customers are willing to pay for it. Fernandes isn't shy about saying he's jealous about some of the moves Norwegian Air has made.

Just as Norwegian Air has on trans-Atlantic routes, Air Asia X might disrupt established trans-Pacific players and push down fares. But making money on long-haul flights is tricky, and Air Asia X might decide it has better options closer to home.

If the integration goes as Expedia and HomeAway envision then this merger can turn out to be transformational for both companies. If that becomes the reality, then the Expedia acquisition of Orbitz may end up being viewed in coming years as a mere footnote in Expedia's timeline when compared with the HomeAway buy.

Low-tech and high-tech productions can have a way of dialing in and out of authenticity.