AirAsia Moves Into E-Hailing Business – Bad News For Grab and Airport Teksi?

AirAsia has moved into the e-hailing/ ride-sharing business with the launch of the AirAsia Ride service - touting greater convenience for passengers, more competitive prices, and better income opportunities for drivers, in addition to a safe experience with a 100 percent fully-vaccinated driver fleet. 

The AirAsia ride e-hailing service can be booked by clicking on the ‘Ride’ icon on the AirAsia Super App. Services are currently available in the Klang Valley, with expansion to more cities in Malaysia planned throughout the year. 

Amanda Woo, CEO of AirAsia Super App said, “AirAsia is always about democratising services and giving people the freedom to choose. We have been championing air mobility by flying over 700 million people around the world over the past 20 years, and with AirAsia ride, we aim to empower people to move around more easily, making full use of the AirAsia Super App technology to enjoy amazing experiences. AirAsia ride inherits the DNA of running a low-cost model which enables savings to be passed on to guests and strives to offer the lowest fares on the road, introducing great value to the highly competitive e-hailing ecosystem.”

AirAsia ride is able to leverage the voluminous data AirAsia has collected in the past 20 years, and integrate this with the options for travel from point A to B, as well as offer a complete user experience for passengers who use their flight services to include - pre-flight, during flight and post-flight mobility.

She added, “There is also the potential for AirAsia ride to integrate with Teleport, our logistics arm to complement the logistics and delivery services, tapping into the same pool of drivers for maximum efficiency and cost savings, apart from synergising with our e-commerce verticals, supplementing our existing last-mile delivery capabilities with greater capacity and reach,”

Very soon, passengers will also be able to use their ‘BIG Points’ to pay for their rides and be able to enjoy the lowest fare in addition to free rides, just like the iconic AirAsia Free Seats.

Passengers will have the ability to choose their preferred vehicle type and also drivers, as we have various communities that are part of our driver fleet. AirAsia Ride implements a "driver-forward" concept that will enable drivers to improve their overall income and enjoy a better quality of life. At the moment, the service has about 1,500 registered drivers and expects 5,000 more drivers to come on board in the next six months.

In the case of airport pickups, drivers will also have real-time info on passenger arrival, enabling drivers to have better time management by reducing the waiting time that results in the ability to make more trips and earn more income. On top of that, drivers take 85 per cent of the net fares (excluding toll charges), higher than other ride-hailing providers in the market, making it a viable part-time job option and side income opportunity. 

GRAB Airport transit fares, updated May 2020

Fares on AirAsia Ride are set at an average of RM1 per kilometre, excluding toll charges. By virtue of this, a ride from KL Sentral to KLIA 2 will cost around RM57 (excluding toll charges), around RM8 less than the RM65 fixed fare Grab offers.

For added convenience passengers are able to book on-demand rides, or even pre-book their rides in advance. A special feature allows passengers to book an ‘Allstar Ride’ and be driven by AirAsia pilots and cabin crew. Those interested to join the AirAsia ride Allstars may sign up by downloading the AirAsia ride driver app.