As it gears up to fly its 100th million passenger by the third quarter this year, Asia’s first low cost airline, AirAsia, is working on how to turn price-sensitive customers into loyal ones.
The airline will be launching a frequent flyer programme soon and Kathleen Tan, regional head of commercial, is quick to add to that “to us, it will be a business unit to earn ancillary revenues”.
It is also investing in CRM. “As an eight-year-old airline, our tools are not so sophisticated yet but we are investing in this area so that we can understand how you as an individual book with us, what you buy when you fly with us and if there is a flight delay, recognize someone who is a key customer a priority seat on the next flight”.
The most powerful area of building customer relationships however is through social networking platforms such as Facebook “which has helped us build a community of “people who love AirAsia and people who love to travel”.
“We can now engage with this community and offer them not only flights but hotels, tours and destination experiences from spas to romance and promote to niches such as families and gays.”
Through its AirAsiaGo portal, which was recently re-launched with a new booking engine, the airline will work with inbound tour operators to create customized tours for its customers. “We are going to give people what they want instead of giving them what the market wants to sell to them.”
Another area of investment is in mobile. By May, customers will no longer have to type www.mobile.airasia.com to access a mobile-enabled site but go through the main URL.
Currently, mobile is only 1% of transactions but Tan sees it growing. “We will have to offer special mobile fares to increase adoption just as we did with web exclusive fares. Money is the only language that works.”
It is also investing in more self check-in kiosks to offer customers convenience and of course, also to keep costs down.
“We have to pay for every counter at check-in which is manned by people not in our uniform. It costs a lot and this doesn’t make sense,” said Tan.
“Technology and innovation helps us keep our costs down.”
On the investment it’s made in introducing flatbed Premium seats on AirAsia X (pictured), Tan said that being the first low cost longhaul airline, it had to learn as it went along. “Longhaul travel behaviour is very different from shorthaul and we got feedback that our XL seats weren’t comfortable and people were prepared to pay for a better seat.
“It was also a good time to order good seats at a good price last year when the airline industry was in crisis.”
The flatbed seats are standard business class specifications of 20” width, 60” pitch and stretches out to 77” in full recline position. The seats feature universal power sockets, adjustable headrests and built-in personal utilities such as tray table, drink holder, reading light and privacy screen.
AirAsia X CEO, Azran Osman-Rani, said, “We concede that the old seats were neither suitable nor comfortable for long-haul flights. But true to AirAsia tradition, we change and adapt. We are always on our toes to seek for constant improvements, providing the best products and services to our guests.”
Featured image credit (Air Asia Aircrafts) : iStock
