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Category: General

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest General Retail news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • 7-Eleven Malaysia hits all time sales record

    7-Eleven Malaysia hits all time sales record

    7-Eleven Malaysia set a full-year sales record last year after revenue rose 6.4 percent to $33.76 billion.

    Much of the growth came from network expansion, but same-store sales rose 2.5 percent, despite declining cigarette sales. The company opened 165 new stores last year, 41 of those in the last quarter, taking its network to 2411. Other factors were higher footfall and an increase in the average transaction. Fresh-food sales grew more than 28 percent year on year.

    Profit attributable to shareholders was up 5.4 percent.

    7-Eleven Malaysia CEO Colin Harvey said the company had kept costs in check, reducing them from 29 percent of turnover to 28.4 percent, despite an increase in the minimum wage.

    “We are confident that continuous implementation and improvement of our strategic roadmap in strengthening the key areas of assortment, supply chain, operational excellence, store base and digitally enabling the organization will continue to deliver positive results despite challenging headwinds,” he said.

  • 80% of Casual Workers Say Negative Media Coverage Influences Their Job Choices

    80% of Casual Workers Say Negative Media Coverage Influences Their Job Choices

    Humanforce, a Sydney based global provider of workforce management solutions, has revealed that negative media coverage can impact Australian retailers’ ability to attract casual workers.

    Eighty percent of respondents in Humanforce’s casual worker survey stated that media coverage of a company underpaying staff would influence if they would work with that employer.

    Humanforce Founder and MD, Bruce Mackenzie, said the survey highlighted how negative media coverage can have long-lasting and costly effects on retail businesses.

    “There have been a number of cases recently involving local businesses underpaying their casual workers,” Bruce said. “Negative media attention makes it harder for any business to attract the best casual workers. This comes at a substantial cost considering a reliable and talented casual worker pool is what supports the success of many Australian retailers.”

    The survey also showed that there’s no hiding negative media coverage from potential casual workers, with 66 percent of respondents stating they would conduct an online search to research a new casual employer. And a further 64 percent said they would ask for word of mouth recommendations from current or previous employees before taking a casual job.

    From March 1st, new clauses aimed at reducing wage-theft come into effect for casual employees covered by a Modern Award with an annualised salary clause, that will require more stringent record-keeping and overtime control measures.

    “By international standards, Australia’s workforce awards and regulations are incredibly complex, which leads to errors,” Bruce said. “And, with the introduction of new practices for payroll aimed at minimising underpayments and non-compliance with awards, retailers operating without workforce management solutions will face increasing challenges in this area.”

    Workforce management solutions can help retailers navigate the complexities of managing casual workers. They help to automate and remove errors when it comes to time and attendance, rostering and scheduling, payroll, as well as managing awards and compliance.

    “While workforce management solutions can support retailers to meet award requirements, it is critical the systems are configured and customised to specifically meet Australia’s workforce awards and regulations. Off-the-shelf solutions from global software vendors are not positioned to interpret Australian awards.  Humanforce, as an Australian-based workforce management solutions provider with local expertise, knowledge and a development and support team on the ground here, is uniquely placed to assist local business with fully customisable solutions for the Australian market.”

    Beyond an employer’s media reputation, the casual worker survey highlighted some incentives that retailers can offer to attract causal staff. When assessing casual jobs and employers, respondents prioritised businesses that offered guaranteed shifts (60%), a positive and fun work culture (54%), wage incentives (52%), flexibility (47%), employee rewards (45%) and premium wages (41%).

    Find out more about Humanforce.

    Methodology

    Humanforce surveyed 500 Australians on their perspectives on casual work in the Q4 period of 2019 via the Zoho Research Platform.

  • Facebook will ban and remove ads promising cure for the coronavirus

    Facebook will ban and remove ads promising cure for the coronavirus

    While governments are working hard to limit the coronavirus outbreak and to protect their citizens’ health, Facebook is working to protect people from misinformation in regards to the current public health situation.

    The tech giant will now ban ads promising a cure for the coronavirus, or ads that attempt to create a sense of urgency about the situation, which, as defined by a Facebook spokesperson, means implying of limited supply or other ways to urge people to buy coronavirus related products right away.

    The social media platform will also remove content containing conspiracy theories that have been flagged by health organizations, along with claims that create confusion in regards to available health resources.

    A lot of social platforms are experiencing surges of misinformation regarding COVID-19, which can prove to be harmful to people. Facebook used fact-checkers to suppress false news or misinformation in its news feed, and now it has decided upon completely removing such content from the platform.

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  • Google further improves Gmail’s security on all platforms

    Google further improves Gmail’s security on all platforms

    Gmail is already a safe email app, but it’s far from being perfect and Google is aware of that. The most recent update introduces a brand-new technology that Google is still refining, which further improves malicious document detection.

    Google’s security technology is using deep learning, a term that’s been tied by many software developed in the last couple of years. In a fairly technical blog post, Google explains how the new changes will affect Gmail and what other improvements are expected to be added in the future.

    First off, Gmail already protects its users from malicious software that’s usually transmitted via Office documents, but thanks to Google’s new technology, the app can do that even better. Google launched a new scanner at the end of last year, which is supposed to increase the detection of Office documents packed with malicious scripts by 10 percent.

    According to Google, nearly 60 percent of the malware targeting Gmail users is represented by malicious documents, which is why the Mountain View company is so determined to find a way to prevent these emails to reach your Inbox.

    Gmail’s new scanner is an extra layer of security and will run at the same time with the already existing detection capabilities. Google’s approach to the problem seems to be the development of multiple scanners, each dedicated to particular tasks and working in parallel to find and remove all malicious content targeting Gmail users.

    These scanners use artificial intelligence, another piece of technology that’s been the cornerstone of developing faster and better software. Google will continue to use artificial intelligence with the purpose of protecting Gmail users’ inboxes, so this is probably a taste of what’s to come.

  • Vietnam says no more drinking scenes in movies

    Vietnam says no more drinking scenes in movies

    Scenes of actors drinking alcohol in films will be restricted under a new decree guiding the alcohol law.

    Cinemas will only show actors drinking if they are playing historical characters or acting in scenes that criticize alcohol addiction, Decree 24, which took effect on Monday to guide several provisions of the Law on Preventing Alcohol’s Harmful Effects, lays down.

    Movies are not allowed to admire or praise individuals and organizations achieving success by producing alcohol or doing any business related to alcohol.

    In June last year lawmakers approved time restrictions for advertising liquor on television and radio. According to the decree, advertisements for alcoholic drinks will be banned from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and immediately before and after and during children’s programs.

    Decree 24 relaxes it slightly and permits beverages with an alcohol content of under 5.5 percent and made by sponsors of regional, continental or global sporting events held in Vietnam to be advertised between 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

    Producers of drinks with less than 15 percent alcohol must add warnings saying drinking alcohol can lead to traffic accidents, affect the fetus and those under 18 are not allowed to drink under the law.

    If an advertisement appears on TV or radio, the warning must be read out aloud at a speed equivalent to that of other content.

    If it is advertised on a website, social media or print publications, the warning must make up at least 10 percent of the advertisement’s content and be in a color that makes it easy to read.

    A ban on advertising hard liquor has been in place for long.

    The new drunk driving law, which came into effect on January 1, doubled existing fines and revokes driving licenses for up to two years.

    There are fines for the first time for cyclists and electric bicycle riders, and anyone caught driving under the influence will have to pay VND400,000-600,000 ($17-26).

    Motorcyclists and car drivers could be fined VND6-8 million and VND30-40 million (VND1,730) and lose their licenses for 22-24 months.

    The country consumed some 4.6 billion liters of beer in 2019 after rising 10 percent from 2018, but growth could fall to 6-7 percent this year due to the tough new penalties, top brokerage SSI Securities Corporation (SSI) said last month.

  • Malaysia’s 99 Speedmart starts in Singapore

    Malaysia’s 99 Speedmart starts in Singapore

    Malaysian convenience-store chain 99 Speedmart has opened three mini-market stores in Singapore.

    According to IGD, the 99 Speedmart stores in Singapore follow the same concept as Malaysia’s stores and range in size from 250 to 500sqm. They trade from 10am to 10pm daily.

    Besides normal grocery items, shoppers also can find Malaysian products displayed closer to the back of the stores.

    In Malaysia, 99 Speedmart operates more than 1500 grocery stores.

    “The retailer’s success is driven by low prices, carrying a narrow range of top-selling brands and great store visibility,” explains IGD senior retail analyst Soo-Eng Tan. “A quick look into its flagship store in Singapore suggests that it is pursuing the same strategy there.”

    99 Speedmart in Singapore aims to expand its retail network further this year. The company has acquired sites in commercial areas and light industrial parks.

  • Livestreaming in China on the boom during coronavirus crisis

    Livestreaming in China on the boom during coronavirus crisis

    Taobao Live, Alibaba Group’s live streaming platform, saw a sharp rise in brand activity this past month as merchants slowly resumed their operations and looked for ways to reach consumers in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.

    In early February, live stream sessions on the platform had increased by 110 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Taobao Live. Driving that growth was the surge of businesses using online tools to maintain sales and engagement with consumers while their physical stores remained shuttered and millions were confined to their homes to prevent further spread of the coronavirus, officially known as Covid-19.

    Public facilities, retail stores, offices and schools throughout the country are now cautiously reopening after an extended closure. But virus fears still loom – despite a drop in new cases of infections – and more time is needed to bring economic activities and production levels back to normal.

    For merchants across different industries, live streaming has become an important tool not only to offset the decline in an offline business but also to encourage creativity in marketing and developing customer relationships. This month, Taobao Live users would have seen chefs broadcasting cooking tutorials in restaurant kitchens, real-estate agents giving tours of apartments, celebrities and singers performing in an online concert from their homes, rural farmers promoting their fruits and vegetables and even auto dealers showcasing the interior of luxury cars.

    Auto brands such as BMW are leveraging live streaming to introduce consumers to car models, interiors and experience of test drives.

    “We want to make it easier for different clients across sectors to make use of live streaming and help them more quickly resume operations,” said Yuan Yuan, head of content operations at Taobao Live.

    Her task force worked closely with other Alibaba business units, such as DingTalk, Tmall, Taobao and Juhuasuan, to connect with more merchants – removing barriers for them to register accounts, as well as providing training and marketing resources.

    “The project turned out to be more than a way to support brands. It also helped some discover their potential in live streaming,” said Yuan. “It was truly impressive to see how nimble and decisive our brand partners were. Their management capabilities helped transform a crisis into an opportunity.”

    Shanghai-based cosmetics brand Forest Cabin temporarily closed about half of its 337 stores across China due to the virus. Its stores that did remain open found few shoppers. In an interview on January 31, founder Sun Laichun said sales had dropped 90 percent during the Spring Festival holiday, traditionally a peak season for shopping.

    If circumstances continued, he estimated a loss of up to RMB30 million (US$4.26 million) a month and possible bankruptcy in under two months. But the band embarked on a turnaround strategy with live streaming at its center, and in just 15 days, Forest Cabin’s sales surpassed the same day last year by 45 percent.

    The brand trained 1600 shop attendants on how to host a live stream on Taobao Live and was soon adding some 3000 new loyalty members a day, up from the typical average of 800 to 1000 people. Sun, himself, joined in and hosted a two-hour session on Valentine’s Day in front of more than 60,000 viewers. By the end of the session, he had sold nearly 400,000 bottles of camellia moisturizing oil and generated close to RMB400,000 in sales.

    While online-only represented about 25 percent of Forest Cabin’s sales before, it now accounts for 90 percent. “The results were beyond my imagination,” Sun said.

    For some brands, live streaming is not just a standalone marketing tool but can be used strategically alongside other online resources to drive sales for new products. On February 13, Chinese technology brand Xiaomi tapped Taobao Live, among other live stream channels, to broadcast the launch of its new flagship smartphone, Mi 10, from its Beijing headquarters. The phone officially went on sale the next day during Xiaomi’s Tmall Super Brand Day, which rallies all the resources across the Alibaba ecosystem to create a smaller version of the company’s annual 11.11 mega-sale for a single brand, and became the top-selling smartphone on Tmall, leading to over RMB300 million in total sales for the brand.

    Sportswear giant Adidas also hosted an exclusive online debut of its limited-edition Superstar sneaker during its Super Brand Day last week. Its “See Now, Buy Now” stream, which lets consumers make real-time purchases of featured items from their mobile phones, drew 2.23 million viewers and generated more than RMB200 million in sales in 10 hours. The format has become so popular among brands that product debuts on the platform are now scheduled up to the end of April, said Taobao Live.

    The spread of the virus has also taken a heavy toll on the restaurant business. Last year, earnings over the Spring Festival holiday represented about 15 percent of the annual revenue of China’s food and beverage industry, which totaled RMB4.67 trillion, per a report released by the China Cuisine Association earlier this month. The survey found that about 73 percent of companies chose to close all of their offline stores in response to the coronavirus. The CCA also estimated that consumers – many who called off family reunions to avoid face-to-face contact during the outbreak – canceled about 94 percent of food orders ahead of Chinese New Year. Beijing-based restaurant chain Meizhou Dongpo, for example, said it canceled 11,144 table reservations across its 100-plus stores during January 21-30 and lost about RMB17 million over the Spring Festival period.

    With offline businesses at a standstill, Meizhou Dongpo began leveraging its brick-and-mortar staff to virtually connect with consumers and drive sales to its online store. Its chefs appeared in live streams to show viewers how to make traditional delicacies like homemade glutinous rice balls ahead of the Lantern Festival. This allowed the brand to share its craft with fans and receive direct feedback on things such as popular dishes. The sessions also directed consumers to products like braised pork belly in the chain’s Tmall flagship store, creating another revenue stream for the restaurant.

    Businesses have also taken the opportunity to train employees and build partnerships based around live streaming. China’s second-largest home-improvement and furniture retailer, Easyhome, said staff from 232 of its stores nationwide broadcast 4810 sessions last week to 3.58 million viewers. Meanwhile, in collaboration with brand partners such as Estee Lauder, Lancome, Kiehl’s, Vans and Baodao Optical, Intime department store launched an initiative encouraging staff to stream from their homes.

    Idle factories and traditional markets, like the wholesale marketplaces in the Chinese city of Yiwu, are also using the tool to bring in business. Taobao said it plans to hold an online market on February 27 for all brick-and-mortar business owners, including the 3000-plus Yiwu-based merchants already registered on Taobao Live.

    To help more small- to medium-sized enterprises learn how to effectively use live streaming for business, Taobao University, Alibaba’s education platform for e-commerce operators, will also stream a free online course on February 25, covering topics from developing followers and campaign planning to live-hosting techniques. Brands including Volkswagen, Nike and Mars have also set up training sessions through Taobao University to help employees get the most out of the live streaming platform.

    Taobao Live said it is now collaborating with even more industries to bring their offline experiences and products online. These include tourism agencies, fashion shows and museums, such as the National Museum of China, Suzhou Museum and Dunhuang Museum.

    “The future of shopping will be more dynamic, interactive and driven by real-time feedback. Livestreaming offers a peek into that future and new possibilities,” said Yuan.

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  • AirAsia X Asks To Put Off Aircraft Lease Payments

    AirAsia X Asks To Put Off Aircraft Lease Payments

    AirAsia X leases 17 A330-300 aircraft from nine lessors. While the majority of lessors have one or two aircraft each flying under AirAsia X colors, BOC Aviation and ICBC Leasing have three aircraft each at AirAsia X.

    We have approached AirAsia X to confirm this. They declined to address our questions, citing a blackout period pending release of the latest financial information later in February.

    One unidentified lessor says they value their relationship with AirAsia X. However, the depth and breadth of that relationship does not extend to, say, letting the airline skip lease payments for three months.

    AirAsia X is the long-haul sibling airline to AirAsia. AirAsia X has been around for over 12 years and now flies to 22 destinations around the Asia Pacific rim with its 24 aircraft.

    Even before the coronavirus outbreak in January, AirAsia X was encountering financial turbulence. The airline lost nearly USD$39 million in the first half of 2019. This was a ten-fold increase on its loss for the first half of 2018.

    Ongoing financial problems at AirAsia X have caused the airline to ask for lease payment holidays before.

    The coronavirus outbreak and subsequent downtown in travel demand will deepen AirAsia X’s financial woes and is likely behind this latest request from the airline.

    AirAsia X is highly reliant on Chinese tourism, dedicating 30% of its available seat capacity to the country. China is usually Malaysia’s third-biggest source of tourists. Now flights on nine of AirAsia X’s twelve Chinese routes are either suspended or canceled.

    Besides China, most of Malaysia’s tourists come from within Asia. As a low-cost tourist airline, AirAsia is a proverbial canary in the coalmine when tourist travel patterns shift.

    There is considerable speculation that the coronavirus and its impact on airlines will send some over the financial edge. Some of this speculation has come from the CEOs of stronger airlines. One CEO said he expected “weaker” airlines in the Asian region to be consolidated or go out of business.

    Despite its mediocre financial performance, AirAsia X does have significant financial firepower behind it. The airline was floated on the Malaysian stock exchange in 2014. The largest shareholder is Tune Group (the investment company for AirAsia’s Tony Fernandes and Kamarudin Meranun). AirAsia itself and various AirAsia subsidiary businesses all have significant stakes.

    AirAsia X probably has the financial muscle to pull through the current downturn in travel demand. But it will not be easy. Having to go cap in hand to aircraft lessors to ask for a payment holiday is a sign of that.

    It makes me wonder how airlines under the Lion Air group are going to survive. Two of them in mind are Malindo (of Malaysia), and Thai Lion Air. They don’t publish their financial results, do they? Or do they?

    0  Reply
    17 hours ago
    RH Hastings

    As per the recent Airbus bribery settlement (31Jan20) and in addition to their financial issues AirAsia executives may have been bribed by Airbus to buy planes. So, the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Malaysia’s government’s are investigating further. Reports suggest their payment was to AirAsia executives’ now defunct Caterham F1 car racing team. Do airline manufacturers or their representatives rank the financial and airline’s regional reputation during sales negotiations? In the west it is common to research via the likes of a Dun & Bradstreet report to ascertain reliability and condition of a seller or buyer.

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  • Tesco to stop Chinese investment

    Tesco to stop Chinese investment

    British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer Tesco has sold its shares in a Chinese joint venture, ending its operations in the country.

    According to Retail Gazette, the firm’s 20-per-cent shareholding in the Gain Land business has now been sold to a unit of its regional partner, Chinese state-owned conglomerate China Resources Holdings (CRH). The shares were sold for £275 million (US$356.6 million).

    The share transfer, set to take effect on Friday, completes Tesco’s six-year exit strategy from China, which began when the firm merged its 131 branded stores in the country with CRH’s Vanguard outlets. CRH operates close to 3000 Vanguard locations.

    Following the retreat, Tesco will focus on its core business, using the funds from the share sale for general business purposes. The firm has also announced a review of its operations in Malaysia and Thailand.

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  • The TSA bans use of TikTok over national security threat allegations

    The TSA bans use of TikTok over national security threat allegations

    The United States Senator for New York Charles E. Schumer has been concerned about national security risks posed by China-owned social media platform TikTok and other similar platforms operating in the US since October last year. He has now reached out to the Transport Security Administration’s (the TSA) Administrator David Pekoske, expressing his concern over the use of the platform by the agency.

    In consequence, the TSA has banned the use of TikTok by its employees. The agency has stopped allowing its employees to use the platform on Sunday. National security experts have been concerned about TikTok’s collection and handling of user data and personal information. Additionally, concerns regarding the fact that Chinese companies have to work in accordance with the Chinese Communist Party’s demands have also been raised. According to Schumer’s press release, those companies do not possess means to decline requests made by the Chinese government.

    Since October 2019, multiple governmental organizations, including the US Army, the Marines, the Navy, as well as the Air Force and the Coast Guard, have banned or imposed hard limitations on the usage of the app. They are also encouraging personnel to avoid the app even in regard to personal use.

    Although TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has not specifically commented on those issues, it maintains the position that it is a trusted and responsible corporate citizen of the US.

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  • WhatsApp private group links visible in Google search results

    WhatsApp private group links visible in Google search results

    Journalist Jordan Wildon stated on Twitter that WhatsApp groups may not be as secure as people thought they were and shared a screenshot, showing some links to groups appearing in Google search results. Apparently, when users create a link to send to someone to join their group, it gets indexed by Google and is accessible.

    A WhatsApp’s spokesperson reminded people that links that should be private shouldn’t be disclosed on publicly accessible websites, apparently explaining that the issue was due to unreasonable public posting of some links. When a link for a private group is posted on publicly available websites, it can be used by anyone to join the group and in consequence, see all the messages in it.

    However, reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong’s post on Twitter regarding the situation brings another perspective on it – she is stating this situation was a result of a misconfiguration which allowed around 470,000 Group Invite links to be indexed, and not because someone has not been careful enough when sharing private links. According to her, WhatsApp could change certain configurations in order to exclude the invite pages from appearing in search engines.

    Nevertheless, for the time being, WhatsApp maintains the position that this is intended behavior, not a bug.

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  • Bamboo Airways suspends S.Korea flights to contain coronavirus

    Bamboo Airways suspends S.Korea flights to contain coronavirus

    Vietnam’s private airline Bamboo Airways will suspend all routes to and from South Korea to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.

    Both routes from central Da Nang and Nha Trang to Seoul’s Incheon International Airport will cease operation starting February 26, it stated Monday.

    The airline is currently operating seven trips a week on each route with the narrow-body Airbus A21neo capable of carrying nearly 200 passengers.

    It stated flight suspension is vital to warding off the coronavirus from South Korea where the number of confirmed cases has reached 763, and death toll 7 as of Monday.

    Last year, South Korea was Vietnam’s second-largest tourism market behind China with 4.3 million visitors, up 23 percent year-on-year.

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  • Metro Cash & Carry India plans more stores

    Metro Cash & Carry India plans more stores

    European wholesale group Metro Cash & Carry will launch five new locations in India by the end of the year.

    The firm is also building its supply partnerships with local small-scale “kirana” stores, and has already secured 2000 partners in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Delhi. It has provided these small businesses with specialized point-of-sale devices outfitted with an app to help owners order items from Metro online, as well as generate daily sales and profit reports and track sales data.

    “We believe in helping kiranas in increasing their sell-out,” said Metro Cash & Carry India MD and CEO Arvind Mediratta to ETtech, “not just sell to them because if their sell-out improves, and if they think Metro can help increase their sell-out, we automatically become their preferred supplier.

    “The whole idea is how to make a kirana store smarter in terms of usage of technology, by running business more efficiently, targeting more customers using data analytics, drive more customer traffic and make it more successful and profitable.”

    Metro’s devices allow the kirana stores to trade using e-payment services. The firm is also offering loans for remodelling costs to help modernise these outlets.

    The firm’s five new cash & carry stores will be established in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It currently operates 27 such outlets in 17 cities within the territory.

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  • Daegu citizens use social media to support restaurants hit by coronavirus

    Daegu citizens use social media to support restaurants hit by coronavirus

    Citizens of South Korean city Daegu are working together on social media to prop up local businesses hit hard by the rapidly growing coronavirus outbreak.

    A Facebook page introducing restaurants in Daegu posted Friday that many establishments are losing money due to the coronavirus epidemic. These restaurants saw their sales fall and are struggling to use up food and ingredients.

    The Facebook page posted a message saying, “If there are restaurants who need help using up ingredients, please let us know. We will help as best as we can.”

    Citizens are taking steps to make sure that restaurant food going unsold due to a drop in customer numbers doesn’t go to waste.

    When such information was made public, inquiries were made by various local restaurants, including steak restaurants and cafes that sell desserts and beverages.

    Site managers received and posted the remaining materials, prices, contact information and photos from restaurant owners. Some posts also showed a welcoming phrase, “Used up all the ingredients.”

    There were also citizen reports to publicize the situation at traditional markets, where many elderly vendors are not familiar with the internet.

    One citizen said: “There are a lot of fruits at Seomun Market stalls and so on. Delivery is also possible,” and provided the site manager with the location and the phone number.

    Other Facebook pages that deliver various news in the region have also joined the initiative.

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  • AirAsia Cancels Flights to South Korea Over Covid-19 Coronavirus

    AirAsia Cancels Flights to South Korea Over Covid-19 Coronavirus

    AirAsia Passengers can find the latest updates via Twitter: @AirAsia_Thai and Facebook: facebook.com/airasia. They can contact customer support on Twitter: @AirAsiaSupport, while they can check flight status through “Flight status” on the website: airasia.com.

    Thai AirAsia has canceled all flights to South Korea from March 6-27 due to the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. The cancellation in flights comes after the South Korean government issued a travel advisory to its citizens.

    Last week Thailand’s outbound tours were left in limbo after South Korean airlines suspend flights to Thailand amid coronavirus fears. The countries’ Health Ministry urged South Koreans to refrain from traveling to regions with confirmed coronavirus cases.

    South Korea has prioritized guarding against the entry of the virus from regions other than China. Using screening measures for passengers who have traveled to; Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Macau.

    AirAsia X has offered three options for passengers affected by this cancellation:

    (1) Passengers can postpone the travel date on the same route for one time within 30 days without additional costs. However, it will depend on seat availability on the flight and the conditions specified.

    (2)  Passengers can keep their points in the AirAsia BIG point reward account for travel in the future. Which must be booked within 90 calendar days from the original schedule. However, passengers can schedule the new travel date after the expiry date if the flight schedule is still available.

    (3)  AirAsia Passengers can request a full refund for all flights to and from South Korea.

    The airline will inform concerned passengers about the cancellation via email or SMS.

    Meanwhile, passengers can request offers via Ava Live Chat at support.airasia.com. In case of booking through a dealer or online travel agent, passengers must proceed with the agent that they had booked with. However, the airline will monitor the situation closely and update information periodically.

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