Did you know, that AirAsia launched its super app on October last year, providing food to hotel delivery? To add more surprising news, This airline also wants to explore online taxis and motorcycle taxis in Malaysia!
AirAsia founder and CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said the service would be available after the corona pandemic was over. “We will soon launch a ride-hailing service in Malaysia,” he said as quoted from e27.co, at the end of last March. Air Asia also wants to be a one-stop-shop portal to meet various needs of the community, from flights, overnight stays, shopping, to chatting in one application (id.echinasia.com).
Ride-sharing services were first provided by Gojek and Grab in Southeast Asia. Even so, Fernandes did not feel left behind. In fact, AirAsia benefits, because the market has already been established. Grab has been present in Malaysia since 2012, under the name GrabTaxi. The company then moved its head office to Singapore in 2014. Last year, this decacorn tested an online motorcycle taxi service in a neighbouring country. In Malaysia, local startup Dego Ride has also tried an online motorcycle taxi service. Other competitors are MyCar, EzCab, Dacsee, Riding Pink, and MULA (katadata.co.id). Before exploring ride-hailing, AirAsia first launched a food delivery service in Singapore. This is a pilot for food delivery services using drones or drones.
AirAsia also plans to develop other products, namely logistics that support the delivery of e-commerce goods. AirAsia will rely on the cargo company Teleport Indonesia to enter the logistics market. The airline also revealed that it plans to enter the fresh product delivery market in Singapore. With this service, users can order imported fish from Japan or South Korea directly to their home in 48 hours. AirAsia also wants to provide digital platform-based health services. AirAsia will compete with Gojek and Grab which present similar products through GoMed and GrabHealth.
Air Asia’s efforts to launch various digital services are made so that it can compete with Grab to Gojek in developing superapps. However, based on TheEdgeMarkets.com report, the company experienced a net loss in the fourth quarter of 2020 reaching US $ 5 billion.