Up, up and away with AirAsia and Trip.com Group
Capital A, AirAsia's parent group, signed a comprehensive partnership with China's leading global travel service provider Trip.com Group on Friday.
The deal signifies that tourism accessibility and connectivity between China and Southeast Asian countries is set to be further elevated.
The strategic collaboration encompasses multiple lines of businesses, including AirAsia and AirAsia MOVE for key areas of cooperation on innovative solutions spanning flights to accommodations, attractions and tickets, car-hailing, and payments.
The two sides will also strengthen information sharing on customer trends and market intelligence. TripLink, Trip.com Group's financial technology arm, will provide AirAsia Aviation Group with payment solutions under the agreement.
China's cross-border tourism market has maintained an upward trend since this year, according to Trip.com.
The signing ceremony.
Its inbound tourism orders have grown more than 300 percent so far this year compared with the same period last year, and the search popularity index of outbound travel has exceeded the same period of 2019 by over 40 percent, Trip.com said on Friday.
"China's outbound business is picking up very quickly, and the demand side based on our search volume has far exceeded the 2019 level," said Jane Sun, the chief executive officer of Trip.com Group.
"This expansion of the strategic partnership between both companies is an affirmation of the positive outcomes we have seen since we signed our initial agreement in 2020."
Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A, said over the next six months, AirAsia will launch flights of more destinations into China, connecting more cities in Southeast Asia with China.
The latest partnership comes as global flights show healthy growth so far this year, with bookings on Trip.com Group's platforms increasing by 82 percent compared to the same period last year.
In 2023, the group's transportation business saw revenue increase by 123 percent year-on-year, and in the same period, Capital A's revenue increased by 25 percent compared with 2019 levels despite operating with just 80 percent of 2019's aircraft numbers on the back of a strong 88 percent load factor.
