Retail News CRM

Tag: Pilippines

  • AirAsia to start selling competitor flights on website

    AirAsia to start selling competitor flights on website

    AirAsia has expanded its online offering to include flights on other airlines as it transforms airasia.com into Asia Pacific’s leading travel and lifestyle platform. This was done in partnership with leading travel technology company Kiwi.com. Powered by Kiwi.com, AirAsia’s website users will be able to book travel on more than 100 airlines to destinations currently not served by AirAsia, including Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, and the Americas.

    airasia.com head of airline distribution Rajiv Kumar said in addition to the strategic partnership with Kiwi.com, which is focused on content and technology sharing, AirAsia is also exploring opportunities to partner directly with airlines and companies who complement our existing network and travel services beyond Asia Pacific.

    airasia.com CEO Tony Fernandes said, “Today is an unbelievable day. When we started AirAsia as a low-cost airline back in 2001, I never thought one day we would be selling our competitors. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it never says never. Never say never and believe the unbelievable. Today, with the help of Kiwi.com, we are reinventing ourselves as more than just an airline, bringing to life our vision for airasia.com to be the region’s one-stop travel shop.”

    Kiwi.com CEO Oliver Dlouhý said, “I’m extremely proud that Kiwi.com has been selected to power AirAsia’s transformation and its ambition to make airasia.com a leading travel and lifestyle platform. We have an abundance of airlines and ground carriers at our disposal and together with AirAsia and its enormous customer base, we are proud to be able to open their platform to the rest of the world.”

    To celebrate the announcement and its partnership with Davis Cup by Rakuten, which takes place on 18-24 November 2019 in Madrid, Spain, AirAsia has kickstarted a global marketing campaign featuring its very own Spanish Allstar, airasia.com. The campaign was launched at AirAsia’s global headquarters RedQ in Kuala Lumpur to much fanfare with a promotional all-in return fare to Madrid from Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Jakarta, and Sydney.

    The campaign comes off the back of the company’s reorganization, which separates AirAsia’s airline operations from its travel and lifestyle arm, airasia.com. Since the reorganization was announced in August this year, more than 700 Allstar staff have been recruited, and in addition to being based across Asia Pacific, a new airasia.com campus will open in central Kuala Lumpur early next year.

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  • Regent Asia eyes double-digit growth in busy 2016

    Regent Asia eyes double-digit growth in busy 2016

    Regent Asia Group Ltd is anticipating a strong increase in duty free revenue over the next few years and expects to double sales by 2018. With the company’s number of luxury duty free brand boutique outlets due to grow quickly over the next 12 months, Regent Asia is targeting a double-digit increase in duty free revenue this year following a Q4 2015 upturn.

    Last year’s duty free revenue growth follows a flat year in 2014 due to the first quarter impact on the Philippines tourist industry of super Typhoon Haiyan Yolanda that struck the central Visayas region on 8 November, 2013.

    After reaching an estimated US$45m in 2015, duty free sales are expected to rise this year as new airport and downtown arrival duty free stores begin trading.Regent reported total travel retail revenue of about US$60m in 2014 by its subsidiary Landmark companies, of which two thirds was generated by duty free sales and one third from duty paid travel retail operations.

    “I predict we will double our duty free sales by the end of 2018,” Regent Asia Group Ltd Managing Director, Jose Maria ‘Chim’ Esteban told TRBusiness.

    “Currently we are 60% perfume and cosmetics and 40% fashion but probably fashion growth will be stronger as we will have more brands with our luxury downtown store opening; the T3 landside downtown store will include aspirational fashion brands.”

    Manila-NAIA-T1-departure-2-Regent-Asia

    Regent Asia departure stores at Manila Airport’s T1.

    The duty free market in the Philippines appears to be on the cusp of a very productive period, with new projects initiating all over the Southeast Asian country. These include airside and landside duty free shops and boutiques at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport and the planned opening of the capital’s first luxury downtown duty free store in early 2017.

    Manila-Airport-T2-departure-2015

    “Currently we are 60% perfume and cosmetics and 40% fashion but probably fashion growth will be stronger as we will have more brands with our luxury downtown store opening; the T3 landside downtown store will include aspirational fashion brands,” says Chim Esteban.

    New facilities scheduled to open in Manila Airport this year include a parade of luxury boutiques in Terminal 3 and the first phase of Duty Free Philippines’ new T3 landside downtown duty free arrival store.

    Close to the airport, work continues on upgrading facilities at Duty Free Philippines’ Fiesta Mall downtown duty free arrival shop, as reported in the January issue of TRBusiness. Elsewhere outside the capital a number of new duty free and tax paid travel retail outlets are preparing to open in some of the Philippines’ smaller provincial international airports.