AirAsia’s Fernandes Taps Google for Help With Super-App Push
- Company doubles down on digital ambitions in Southeast Asia
- Low-cost airline building out app to take on Grab, GoTo
AirAsia staff silhouetted in front of an aircraft at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Photographer: Samsul Said/BloombergAirAsia, the budget airline that experimented with online commerce during the depths of the pandemic, is counting on a rebound in travel this summer to fuel a so-called “super app” to offer a suite of on-demand services from car-hailing to flight bookings.
The struggling carrier launched services such as meal delivery and car rides for revenue when air travel plummeted amid the outbreak, delving into areas already dominated by internet giants Grab Holdings Ltd. and GoTo Group. Now, that fledgling super app has signed a five-year tie-up with Google Cloud that it hopes will propel its ambitions to carve out a long-term online business, Tony Fernandes, the airline’s founder and chief executive officer of newly rebranded parent company Capital A Bhd., told Bloomberg News.