It’s tough business for AirAsia ever since the Covid-19 outbreak as international and domestic air travel were grounded for long stretches of time.
This is obviously not sustainable and AirAsia had since then reported billions of losses. Since then, AirAsia has been focusing on building their brand on other kinds of businesses. Capitalizing on their experience in logistics, AirAsia had first dip their toes into food delivery service, and soon into the e-hailing service.
In an interview with The Edge, he confirmed the that the company is looking to expand into the e-hailing industry, but denied to comment on when it would be launched.
He added that he is unfazed by current market giants such as Grab, claiming that the market without competition is unhealthy and it is not too late to jump into the ride hailing bandwagon.
He states that he isn’t afraid of starting small. It brings back his memories when he bought AirAsia with two planes, and Malaysian Airlines at that point of time owned 98% of the market share.
He also shared that the cost of entry into the market is also low, as he isn’t the first to enter the market. This is mainly because AirAsia do not have to waste all that money with experimentation, building technology, training drivers and training the market how to order. Grab and Uber had all done it for him.
Fernandes added that the AirAsia plans to raise more capital to fund its digital ventures and that he has investors who have expressed interest in participating.
Currently, Grab the market leader in Malaysia. There are other similar service providers like MyCar, EzCab, Dacsee, Riding Pink, and MULA, who could potentially be their rivals, after the entry of Indonesia-based Gojek being scrapped.
