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Tag: AirAsi

  • Airasia SuperApp denies Batik Air’s claims of ‘unauthorised’ ticket sales

    Airasia SuperApp denies Batik Air’s claims of ‘unauthorised’ ticket sales

    Airasia SuperApp has denied a claim by Batik Air that it has acted in an “unauthorised manner” by selling the airline’s and Super Air Jet’s flights on its online travel agency (OTA) platform.

    In a statement, airasia SuperApp said its OTA platform holds a travel agent licence and is also accredited by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as an authorised agent to sell flights from any airline on its app and website.

    The app said that as an accredited OTA, its flight inventories come from established partner aggregators and direct airline partners, a common OTA industry practice.

    “As any accredited OTA in the market, we will continue to sell flights from any airline, including those we do not have direct relationships with, through our established partner aggregators and consolidators,” said acting CEO of airasia SuperApp Hafidz Fadzil.

    Yesterday, the Edge reported that Batik Air demanded airasia SuperApp to immediately remove and delete all the airline’s products and services on the platform, saying it has never consented to place them on the app.

    The airline claimed that the app had acted in an “unauthorised manner” by selling the airline’s and Super Air Jet’s flights on its platform.

    “We wish to notify the public that Batik Air Malaysia, and all the airlines within the Lion Air Group, namely Lion Air, Batik Air Indonesia, Wing’s Air, and Super Air Jet, have not given any consent for airasia SuperApp to include their services on its OTA platform,” it was quoted as saying.

    Batik Air also threatened “legal redress” if airasia SuperApp failed to comply.

    Malaysia Aviation Group Bhd managing director Izham Ismail said it had filed an injunction to stop the low-cost carrier from selling Malaysia Airlines tickets on the app.

    Izham said the group had not reached a commercial agreement before this, yet airasia SuperApp “continued to sell our inventory”.

    In response, Hafidz today said the Malaysia Airlines flight tickets displayed on the app were taken from inventories supplied by their established partner aggregators.

    “The flight fares and fare class (economy or business) information is supplied directly by our partner aggregators without any intervention from airasia SuperApp. The same fare information was also displayed on other OTA platforms,” he said.

    He added that the legal action Malaysia Airlines has taken against them is premised on allegations of potential trademark infringement and passing off, and unrelated to the supply of inventory.

    Airasia SuperApp said it continues to call on Malaysia Airlines and other airlines to partner directly with it for better efficiency and performance, towards offering Malaysians the best value for travel.

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  • AirAsia sets up low-cost airline in Vietnam

    AirAsia sets up low-cost airline in Vietnam

    Malaysian budget airline AirAsia Berhad plans to start a low-cost carrier in Vietnam, co-operating with local businesses to enter the country’s booming travel market, company representatives told Retail News.

    AirAsia signed a shareholders’ agreement with Vietnam’s Gumin Company Limited, Hải Âu Aviation Joint Stock Company and Trần Trọng Kiên, the owner of these two companies, to form the venture last Friday, which the airline announced in a statement to Malaysia’s stock exchange.  

    The carrier, expected to start flying at the beginning of 2018, will need an investment of VNĐ1 trillion (US$44 million), of which AirAsia will hold 30 per cent stake and Gumin will hold 70 per cent.

    Vietnam is the latest country to lure Malaysian billionaire Tony Fernandes, head of AirAsia, who is aspiring to build a low-cost airline network covering Asia, as the 28 per cent growth inVietnam’s aviation market triples the rate in other Southeast Asian countries.

    Vietnam is also the fifth biggest aviation market in the region, after Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, with a passenger volume that has doubled since 2013 thanks to a middle class population accounting for 25 per cent of the total population by 2010.

    In recent years, AirAsia has established affiliates in Indonesia, Thailand, India and Japan. The airline is betting on low cost airline models for international travel through its AirAsia X subsidiary. Fernandes has also ordered hundreds of Airbus aircraft worth billions of dollars to meet his ambition of growth, and he is in the process of selling a subsidiary specialising in leasing aircrafts to raise cash.

    However, Brendan Sobie, CAPA Centre for Aviation’s analyst, told that AirAsia would face huge challenges, because it entered the Vietnamese market too late. “The market is currently well served by two carriers, VietJet Air and Jetstar Pacific. The growth rate will slow down in the coming years, as the low-cost market is now more mature. ”

    Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company shares have grown 52 per cent since its listing on HCM Stock Exchange in February 28.

    According to a report released by ACB Securities in December last year, passenger traffic inVietnam will continue to grow at double digit rates over the next decade, after an annual growth of 17 per cent in the last decade.

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