While we all know AirAsia as a low-cost, budget airline, it has since evolved into an all-in-one platform that will let you book hotels, plan tours, and even book ride and delivery services. The latter, which is supposed to be known as AirAsia Ride, has been in the works since last year, and CEO Tony Fernandes further emphasizes their plans to launch their own ride-hailing service to rival Grab.
In fact, Fernandes is in Manila and is set to meet DoTR Secretary Jaime Bautista to discuss the plans for AirAsia’s own ride-hailing service. “We want [AirAsia] to launch our ride-hailing services here and provide some competition to Grab; we think we will be more affordable and obviously we can make a huge dent at airports,” Fernandes said in an interview with ANC.
To make their ride-hailing service stand out, Fernandes said that they plan to hire full-time drivers and provide them with benefits like insurance–which is similar to Move It’s plans for its partner-riders.
Fernandes claims that the AirAsia ride-hailing venture can generate around 2,000 jobs in the Philippines in the next 2 to 3 years, and is confident to say that it can be more should the venture be successful.
“We’re going to invest very heavily in the Philippines,” Fernandes said.
