AirAsia clinches eighth consecutive ‘Asia’s Leading Low-Cost Airline’

HO CHI MINH CITY: When it comes to making air travel affordable and accessible to all, AirAsia has been flying high for years.

For an unprecedented eighth consecutive year, the airline took home the title, “Asia’s Leading Low-Cost Airline”. It also won the “Asia’s Leading Low-Cost Airline Cabin Crew” award for the seventh year in a row.

AirAsia came out on top in these categories in a competition involving over 10 other airlines, earning the highest votes from industry players, consumers, and travel professionals from across the region.

The announcement came at a gala on Sept 6 at the World Travel Awards (WTA) 2023 — Asia and Oceania at GEM Center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, following AirAsia’s winning of the World’s Best Low-Cost Airline by Skytrax for 14 consecutive years recently.

AirAsia Aviation Group Ltd group chief executive officer Bo Lingam said the group aims to reinstate 200 planes back into operations by the end of the year.

“We would like to thank the nearly 800 million guests and our incredible Allstars for rocking our world. Rest assured that we will stand by the same solid dedication that has brought us here. We are committed to honouring the confidence of our guests by providing better customer experience on the ground and in the air,” he said in a statement yesterday.

The WTA, established in 1993, is hailed as one of the most prestigious, comprehensive and sought-after awards programmes commemorating excellence across key sectors of travel, tourism

and hospitality.

Meanwhile, AirAsia Group head of cabin crew Suhaila Hassan said the win was down to the cabin crew members who “consistently go above and beyond to ensure guests’ journeys are nothing short of fantastic”.

“We are proud to be honoured again with the prestigious “Asia’s Leading Low-Cost Airline Cabin Crew” award for the seventh consecutive year. This recognition is not just a pat on the back. It is a testament to the passion and commitment that drive us forward and to constantly improve.

“With this accolade, we are even more motivated to keep pushing boundaries and delivering unforgettable journeys to each and every one of our valued guests,” she said at the award ceremony yesterday.

In addition to these awards, AirAsia continued its winning streak when its one-stop travel platform, airasia Superapp, bagged the “Asia’s Leading Online Travel Agency (OTA)” award.

This marks airasia Superapp’s victory in its inaugural nomination, as a testament to its innovative approach as a complete end-to-end travel app, the company said.

airasia Superapp chief business officer Dabraj Sing said the app’s user base as at the second quarter of 2023 (2Q23) stood at 15 million monthly active users, and he hopes to close the year with at least 20 million monthly active users.

“I think the good part of Superapp is it allows users to transact more than two or three times in a year. Around 15% of our users today are transacting in more than one line of business that we have. In the past, we only had users buying flight tickets. Now, users are able to transact on ride hailing more than two or three times a month. This is where the stickiness of the app comes in,” he told reporters on the sidelines yesterday.

Dabraj added OTA’s gross booking value for the first eight months of 2023 came to RM400mil and the company aims to close the year with at least RM600mil to RM700mil in gross booking value.

“The award is a testament to our teams. Two years ago, it was just a dream for us to be an OTA. Now we are offering flights from over 700 carriers worldwide and 900,000 hotels across the globe. I think, for flight OTA alone, we are doing around RM400 million as of August and this is almost one times growth as compared with last year. We hope to close this year on a high as well,” he said.

airasia Superapp chief operating officer Tan Mai Yin said the company continues to strive to be a leading travel super app, not only within ASEAN but also in other regions.

“Winning the award over other well-established OTAs solidifies our commitment to transforming travel through technology and providing travellers with a one-stop platform that revolutionises their journey from planning to experiencing,” she said.