1. It will influence the way Western companies think about their Asian strategy, not only in travel – how much are they prepared to give for what they stand to get. In Expedia’s case, it was worth giving away 50% of their business in Asia to have access not only to AirAsia’s inventory but also its distribution, network and expertise in local markets.

2. It ups the ante in the fast-growing, increasingly competitive online travel landscape in Asia. This joint venture is evidence that the Asian online travel market has matured to such an extent that the world’s largest online travel agency is finally taking it seriously and on the market’s own terms.

3. For AirAsia, it marks a paradigm shift. Once, it thought it could do it alone. Now, it realizes as it expands and particularly as it goes longhaul into markets where its brand does not have as much cache as at home, it needs partners. So for AirAsia’s Fernandes, it was worth surrendering his dream of self-distribution to give their air content to a partner which will give them global distribution in the markets they need access to – namely US, Europe and Australia.

4. It underscores the growing importance of ancillary revenues to airlines. This joint venture allows AirAsia to focus on its core business of flying people from point to point at low prices, instead of having to build up an OTA under AirAsiaGo or GoRooms. “This is not what we are good at,” said Fernandes, who noted that if AirAsia earned more through ancillaries, it wouldn’t have to raise fares. Currently, ancillaries account for 19% of revenues, or RM14 per customer, which Fernandes said was equal to US$1 of oil money.

5. One aspect to consider is whether other airlines working with Expedia would regard this as a threat – something competitors such as Webjet will obviously play up – but presumably Expedia believes it has enough distribution clout for airlines to continue working with it. At the press conference, asked a question about the American Airlines’ dispute with Expedia, Barry Diller said he hoped the problem would be resolved soon, although he couldn’t be specific about the nature of the resolution or the timeline. “All problems eventually get resolved,” he said with the confidence of a man who’s been in business long enough to know so.

6. It will make hoteliers sit up and take notice of AirAsiaGo and GoRooms, which have faced challenges in securing allotments from hoteliers who did not want to associate with a low cost brand. Nothing’s being disclosed yet but look for some rationalization in branding and market segmentation as the partnership evolves. As Scott Durschlag, president of Ezpedia Worldwide, said, they are hitting a market of three billion people – so it will be slice and dice to fit.

7. It shows that a home-grown Asian brand can grow big and powerful enough to strike an equal marriage with one of the world’s largest brands. AirAsia has shown it is prepared to do things differently in every aspect of its business – from the way it pioneered Internet sales of air tickets, to how it’s used social media to create its own media and community to now, its intense focus on mobile. If anything, it will show Expedia the way in the two areas of social media and mobile in this region.

8. It shows the power of personalities to make a difference. This deal would not have happened without Barry Diller who, one day, read about AirAsia and Tony Fernandes and was impressed and intrigued enough to seek him out, and told his team to “make it happen”. And it took another maverick like Fernandes to agree.

9. The question is whether the partnership can give AirAsia incremental revenues and higher-yielding business over what it can get on its own. Its past attempts to penetrate global markets through partnerships with GDSs have been so far disappointing. Will this be different?

The punters are out. Odds are this partnership will work because the two men at the top demand it so.