AirAsia will now sell flights from other airlines on its digital platform

In a push to become Asia Pacific’s leading travel and lifestyle platform, AirAsia will be selling flights from other airlines on its platform, airasia.com.

The move, announced on Nov 15 at AirAsia’s global headquarters RedQ in Kuala Lumpur, is in partnership with travel technology company, Kiwi.com, and will include destinations such as Auckland, Dubai, London and Madrid.

“When we started AirAsia as a low-cost airline back in 2001, I never thought one day we would be selling our competitors. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s never say never. Never say never and believe the unbelievable. Today, with the help of Kiwi.com, we are reinventing ourselves as more than just an airline, bringing to life our vision for airasia.com to be the region’s one-stop travel shop,” said airasia.com CEO Tony Fernandes.

Beyond flights, AirAsia is also looking at collaborating in other areas, said airasia.com’s head of airline distribution Rajiv Kumar. “In addition to the strategic partnership with Kiwi.com, which is focused on content and technology sharing, we are also exploring opportunities to partner directly with airlines and companies that complement our existing network and travel services beyond Asia Pacific.”

In August, AirAsia announced a reorganisation that will separate AirAsia’s online operations from its travel and lifestyle arm, airasia.com. More than 700 staff have been recruited across Asia Pacific as part of this new structure. A new airasia.com campus will also open in central Kuala Lumpur next year.