KUALA LUMPUR (April 19): AirAsia Super App, one of the portfolio companies of Capital A Bhd, has clarified that it is authorised to sell flights from any airline on its online travel agency (OTA) platform as it holds a travel agent licence. It is also an International Air Transport Association-accredited (IATA) agent to sell flight tickets.
In a statement on Wednesday (April 19), the low-cost carrier said airasia Super App, which was created in October 2022 as an online travel agency, intends to drive tourism in Malaysia and promote new travel options for millions of people in Asean.
“It has developed many product lines, including its OTA platform offering flights from other airlines, hotel and accommodation, ride-hailing, digital travel retail and duty-free, community engagement and more,” it said.
airasia Super App acting chief executive officer Mohamad Hafidz Mohd Fadzil noted that the app has offered world-renowned airline brands such as Etihad Airways, Turkish Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Air New Zealand, Citilink, KLM, Air France, Bangkok Airways and many others as its direct airline partners.
“Our database of over 72 million, one of the largest of any platform, allows our airline partners to reach a wider audience.
“The airasia Super App’s OTA platform holds a travel agent licence, and is also an IATA-accredited agent authorised to sell flights from any airline on its app and website.
"As an accredited OTA, airasia Super App’s flight inventories come from both established partner aggregators and direct airline partners, a common OTA industry practice," he said.
According to him, other airlines’ flights has contributed a small percentage of the app platform’s revenue and to date, it has sold 1.72 million seats from more than 700 airlines that are available on its channel.
"As any accredited OTA in the market, we will continue to sell flights from any airlines, including those we do not have direct relationships with through our established partner aggregators and consolidators,” he said.
On the injunction filed by Malaysia Aviation Group Bhd's (MAG) parent company of Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAS) to stop the unauthorised sale of MAS tickets on airasia Super App, Mohamad Hafidz clarified that the tickets displayed were taken from inventories supplied by its established partner aggregators.
“We wish to put on record that the MAS flight tickets displayed on the airasia Super App were taken from inventories supplied by our established partner aggregators, and the flight fares and fare class (economy or business) information is supplied directly by our partner aggregators without any intervention from airasia Super App. The same fare information was also displayed in other OTA platforms," he noted.
Meanwhile, he said that the legal action that MAS has taken against the company is premised on allegations of potential trademark infringement and passing off, and unrelated to the supply of inventory.
“We continue to call on MAS and other airlines to partner directly with the airasia Super App to achieve better efficiency and performance, and will be happy to move our conversation forward on working together to offer Malaysians the best value when it comes to travel, and win together,”
Yesterday (April 18), Malaysia-based Batik Air, a member of Indonesia's Lion Air Group, also said airasia Super App had acted in an "unauthorised manner" by putting the airline’s and Indonesian low-cost carrier Super Air Jet’s flights up for sale on the app.
The matter was revealed by Transport Minister Anthony Loke on Monday (April 17), who advised consumers to check and purchase tickets through the official apps of the airlines to avoid buying tickets at high prices as ticket prices would be different if they are purchased using other apps.
At noon break, shares in Capital A traded down half a sen or 0.67% at 74 sen, valuing the company at RM3.06 billion.