Asia’s largest budget carrier AirAsia said it registered its highest post-hibernation sale day on June 23, with a record-breaking 41,000 seats sold in a single day across AirAsia Group, signifying a strong rebound in demand for air travel.
“AirAsia’s web site is experiencing traffic growth of 170 percent. Some of the most popular routes booked include Kota Kinabalu and Kuching to Kuala Lumpur for Malaysia, Bangkok to Chiang Mai and Hat Yai for Thailand, Manila to Puerto Princesa and Davao for the Philippines, Delhi to Srinagar and Bengaluru to Hyderabad for India and Jakarta to Denpasar and Medan for Indonesia,” said AirAsia Group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes.
“We are aiming to increase our flight frequencies to around 50 percent of our pre-Covid operations and we look forward to resuming all domestic routes in the coming weeks and months to cater to the increasing demand.”
The Group’s load factor averaged around 50 percent with AirAsia Malaysia hitting 70 percent, its highest load factor post-hibernation.
“We are encouraged by this positive trend and we foresee this will continue in the coming weeks. Our recent innovative product in Malaysia, AirAsia Unlimited Pass, which is a product specifically designed to promote the Malaysian Government’s effort to stimulate and encourage domestic travel, sold out quickly,” Fernandes said.
“We will be rolling this out in other markets soon. We continue to play our part to revive the domestic tourism industry by partnering directly with local hotels to offer hassle-free, best price guaranteed deals with bigger savings on SNAP, our flight and hotel combo booking platform.”
Currently, Air Asia is operating 152 daily flights across the region and Fernandes said the company “[looks] forward to the reopening of international borders in recognition of the fact that air transport provides the connectivity that is essential for the resumption of economic activities and the global recovery efforts.”
Air travel remains one of the safest modes of travel. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), evidence suggests that the risk of transmission on board is “extremely low.”
Aircraft are equipped with features that will reduce the already-low risk of transmission onboard. Passengers are seated facing forward with the seatback serving as a solid barrier, while the cabin air is fully filtered and renewed every two to three minutes through the hospital-grade HEPA filters, ensuring clean cabin air.
Coupled with a layered approach of biosafety measures covering the entire passenger journey, the risk of transmission onboard is further minimized,
AirAsia said it works actively with all relevant regulators, local governments, civil aviation and health authorities, and adheres to guidance from the World Health Organization and International Civil Aviation Organization to ensure the highest standards of compliance and conformance are in place for every single flight it operates in its network.