CLOSE on the heels of acquiring Malaysian online food delivery platform Delivereat to expand its delivery business in ASEAN, AirAsia Group is driving into the ride-hailing scene with the launch of airasia ride today (August 24).
The plan to launch a ride-hailing business was mooted by its chief executive officer Tony Fernandes in March, who hailed this plan becoming reality as an “incredible and very exciting journey”.
Available initially in the Klang Valley, airasia ride pitches itself against established ride-hailing services, especially with the current leader Grab, with the promise to provide passengers greater convenience, more competitive prices and better income opportunity for drivers, in addition to a safe experience with a 100% fully-vaccinated driver fleet. (Klang Valley is an urban conglomeration centred in Kuala Lumpur and includes its adjoining cities and towns in the state of Selangor).
On what sets airasia ride apart from its competitors in the market Lim Chiew Shan, who is heading the new entity as its CEO, said it “would be the unique insights and data that we have due to our position as a Super App that owns an airline, and have strong vertical products on e-commerce, fintech, logistics and now e-hailing.”
These would enable airasia ride to leverage on AirAsia Group’s “vast data and algorithm to provide a seamless and connected journey experience for its passengers, where they will be able to perform booking for both their flights and pre-book their ride to the airport,” he added.
The service currently has about 1,500 registered drivers, with 5,000 more to come onboard in the next six months as its expands nation-side.
Fares on airasia ride are set at an average of RM1 (US$0.24) per kilometre, excluding toll charges.
Passengers can choose their preferred vehicle type, from budget to premium. They can log in the driver’s details and use the same person for , subsequent rides by logging. Both these features are already present in some of the ride-hailing services in Malaysia. However, the company said it has a special feature that allows passengers to book an ‘Allstar Ride’ and be chauffeur driven by AirAsia pilots and cabin crew.
Passengers will soon be able to use their BIG Points to pay for their rides, enjoy low fares in addition to free rides. They can book rides by clicking on the ‘Ride’ icon on the airasia Super App, or visiting airasia.com/ride.
Amanda Woo, CEO of airasia Super App said airasia ride is part of its continuous digital transformation journey to become “ASEAN’s top super app through regional expansion into Thailand and potentially Indonesia very soon.”
She added there is also the potential for airasia ride to integrate with its logistic arm Teleport to complement the logistics and delivery services, tapping into the same pool of drivers. “Another exciting product innovation in the pipeline is partnership with electric vehicles, to spearhead the drive for sustainability in mobility for ASEAN.”
There are plans to roll out airasia ride to other countries in the region including Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
AirAsia Group has been aggressively expanding its superapp footprint in ASEAN in its ambition to become the region’s “challenger superapp”. It started its the food delivery service, airasia food, in November – operating in Malaysia and Singapore and recently launched in Thailand. In July, it acquired Indonesian unicorn Gojek’s Thai operations in an all-share deal.
