The AirAsia Group rebrands its digital venture arm RedBeat Ventures to be known now as AirAsia Digital. Launched in 2018, AirAsia Digital leverages the airline group’s physical and digital assets in creating a business ecosystem that will connect its customers’ daily lives. This transformation makes the AirAsia brand a fully digital company, more than just an airline.
During the press briefing attended by members of the press all over Southeast Asia last Friday, 25 September 2020, AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes looked back on their humble beginnings when they started operations with just two (02) planes, 200 staff, and MYR40 million in debt. AirAsia today is the largest Low-Cost Carrier (LCC) in Southeast Asia flying to 160 destinations and serving more than 100 million guests on an annual basis.
The visionary chief executive aims for AirAsia Digital to be a new kind of travel tech company in the region through the strength of their assets and access to its pool of talents. The rebranded company has three (03) main pillars:
- Venture Builder
- RedBeat Academy
- Data Centre
Venture Builder incubates and grows strategic businesses — some are spin-offs of the airline’s business units — focusing on platform, logistics and eCommerce, and financial services. Under Venture Builder are portfolio companies AirAsia.com, Teleport, BigPay, BIGLIFE, and Santan.
RedBeat Academy is AirAsia Digital’s training arm that was formed in partnership with Google. The academy trains and produces a steady pool of software engineers, data scientists, and other digital experts aimed at filling and boosting the talent gaps in the ASEAN region.
Data Centre acts as a data consultancy department providing a range of services to include data governance, data engineering, and analytics to aid companies in making more informed decisions.
The airline boss is setting his eyes on the Philippines to be a focus area outside of Malaysia in rolling out their super app strategy.
“We are starting to build the (AirAsia Digital) content for the Philippines. Logistics and hotel supplies are opening, and we are very excited. Currently, looking for local partners. The digital nature of our business is really fitted to the Philippines, especially in the logistics, fintech, and eCommerce platforms. Starting today, the Philippines is open for business for us,” according to Fernandes.