AirAsia Group Bhd is planning to launch a flying-taxi business next year.
“We are working on that right now," Tony Fernandes, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder, AirAsia said. He also added, “I think we are about a year and a half away from launching."
The airline business is badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic, so AirAsia has been expanding in the digital space. The company came up with its “super app" last year that offers services from travel and shopping to logistics and financial services.
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“We took it as an opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to recast your business, re-look at things," the CEO said.
As per Fernandes, AirAsia is expected to start its e-hailing services in April. He further added that the flying taxis it hopes to begin providing next year will come with as many as four seats and will be powered by a quadcopter
The company announced that it is partnering with a state agency called the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre to develop an urban drone delivery service.
While AirAsia is looking for further opportunities to expand its services into new areas, Fernandes is optimistic that air travel will soon rebound with the rollout of vaccination programs. The group offers low-cost flights linking 22 countries, mostly in the Asia-Pacific region.
“I hope interstate travel will start in the next two to three weeks" within Malaysia, he said. He expects international borders to start opening in July or August.
