AirAsia eyes expansion to land transport

MANILA  -Budget carrier AirAsia aims to launch this year a ride-hailing service in the four-wheel segment—which hopes to rival dominant player Grab Philippines—as the airline seeks to expand its transportation product offering in the country.

Raymund Berja, AirAsia Philippines chief financial officer and AirAsia Super App managing director, told the Inquirer on Monday they were working on securing the required licenses to provide the ride-hailing service via their super app.

Such service, demand for which has increased with further mobility, is already available in Thailand and Malaysia. It will also soon be offered in Singapore, Berja said.

“Hopefully, our dark horse is the Philippine market. We understand the richness of the Philippine market,” he said on the sidelines of the CFO Summit 2023 event in Quezon City.

He shared that 5,000 to 10,000 transport network vehicle service (TNVS) slots would be a “good start” for AirAsia Ride, especially with the supply gap in Metro Manila.

Berja said that AirAsia could secure a portion of the market share from Grab by providing “good price points for the riding public,” which is in line with the airline’s overall low-cost strategy.

In addition, the budget carrier aims to provide “better income” for the partner-drivers.

Grab has cornered the local four-wheel ride-hailing service sector after it acquired Uber’s business in 2018. The Singaporean company is currently beefing up its presence outside Metro Manila. It recently asked the government for 20,000 more TNVS slots.

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Last year, AirAsia Super App introduced the AirAsia Transport feature in the country that allows users to book tickets for buses and ferries.

Travelers, via the app, can secure bus seats to Banaue, Baguio, Albay and other key destinations in Luzon. Tickets for ferry rides to Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro and other Visayas and Mindanao provinces can be booked through the app.

AirAsia Super App, meanwhile, recently announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with hotel management group Archipelago International for a direct hotel partnership in Jakarta.

The collaboration has expanded the super app’s booking platform portfolio by over 40,000 rooms and residences in more than 200 locations across Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Oceana. Among these are 13 listings in the Philippines.

The app currently has over 700,000 hotel listings worldwide. INQ

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