AirAsia aims to expand e-commerce beyond selling plane tickets

AirAsia Group wants to sell more than cheap flight tickets. AirAsia is talking to potential partners to build an e-commerce app that it wants to see overtake the size of its airline business, Group deputy CE Aireen Omar said. The carrier, which gets about US$240m revenue a year from its current booking engine, expects to earn 20 times more as it expands into an app that will offer lifestyle goods and services. “This will be bigger than the airline itself,” Aireen said. “There’s a lot you can do in just one app and that’s what we are trying to do with our travel and lifestyle app.” The airline is bolstering its digital capability to tap a regional e-commerce market that’s set to increase threefold to $240b by 2025, CE Tony Fernandes said last month. AirAsia’s app will offer everything from hotel bookings to beauty products and dinner vouchers. <br/>