Fernandes, king of Southeast Asia budget aviation, zeroes in on digital services as next big act
The airline is exploring how to use data to generate deals for customers and footfall for merchants
Facing bribery claims in India, AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes was nevertheless at his relaxed best onstage at an innovation conference in Singapore. No mention was made of those claims, and the centre of discussion was AirAsia’s next big act.
The former Warner Music executive has built AirAsia into Southeast Asia’s biggest low-cost carrier in the space of only sixteen years. Starting with two leased planes, AirAsia now has a fleet of 230 aircraft and carried 89 million passengers in the past year. Now the Kuala Lumpur-based company wants to mine its 300 million-strong database of customers for gold.
“We’re in this fantastic revolution now,” Fernandes said to a packed hall at the Innovest Unbound conference on Tuesday morning. “Data is changing the world. Extracting new value from customers and providing them with services … I actually have loads and loads of customers.”
AirAsia is looking at the “travel eco-system” and seeking ways to provide additional services to its customers, he said. “We see financial services as a huge opportunity. Our customers are paying high fees for remittances and foreign exchange.”
The airline is also looking at how to use the data to generate deals for customers and footfall for merchants, he said, citing the example of “tourists from Malaysia, Indonesia coming to Singapore to shop”. Fernandes also said he’s a “big believer in digital currencies”.