AirAsia Turns to Duty-Free Shopping Online

20th Nov 2017

Malaysian budget airline AirAsia Berhad is turning its attention to duty-free shopping and wants to use its fleet to transport goods and products to destinations all over Asia.

The group Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes said:

If you take Amazon, they started with a website and great distribution, now they are buying planes. We've got the planes and we are working backwards. When you book your ticket (online), we will offer you the chance to buy duty-free and you can pick it up on the plane or at the airport.

Fernandes also said that the airline may create a marketplace for shops to put some content on their online website. He said this would include personalized recommendations and would be more flexible than buying duty-free at the airport itself. The AirAsia boss hopes the marketplace would offer more incentives to customers to buy this way.

Last week, AirAsia launched BigPay, a mobile-based e-wallet for Southeast Asian customers. Fernandes called it AirAsia’s “own version of Alipay”.

AirAsia Foundation Launches KLIA2 Pop-Up Shop

AirAsia Group’s philanthropic arm AirAsia Foundation launched a pop-up shop at KLIA2 in time for the holiday season.

The pop-up shop, named “Destination: GOOD”, was opened in joint collaboration with Malaysia Airports.

The airline said in a statement:

Reflecting klia2’s position as AirAsia’s home base and the airport serving the widest Asean network, Destination: GOOD carries over 200 products, sustainably produced by 25 Asean social enterprises. Selection includes organic produce, stationery, accessories and home décor that fund good causes.

Managing director of Malaysia Airports Badlisham Ghazali said:

Destination: Good’s main objective of providing platforms for ASEAN social enterprises certainly resonates well with Malaysia Airports’ on several levels. We look at this collaboration as an extension of our CSR efforts to support enterprises from our neighboring countries. This collaboration also marks yet another initiative by both the airlines and airport operator to improve total airport experience for our passengers.

AirAsia Foundation Executive Director Yap Mun Ching said:

Since 2012, we have awarded 19 grants for social enterprises to expand their businesses. While doing this, we realized that many of them needed help to reach new markets. With this partnership with Malaysia Airports, we are able to provide the social enterprises with an international platform, while jointly marking ASEAN’s 50th anniversary in a meaningful way.