How AirAsia MOVE has become one of Southeast Asia’s top online travel agencies

The vision of AirAsia MOVE is simple yet ambitious: a place where customers can book all their travel needs within a single seamless user experience, made possible within a few button clicks. Customers can not only book AirAsia flights and affiliated hotels but also access hundreds of airlines as well as countless accommodation options and vacation experiences. 

“Consumers are looking for more choice. They're not committed to only one carrier,” said Nadia Omer, CEO of AirAsia MOVE in a recent interview with PhocusWire. “They would like the hotel to be part of it as well.”

Seizing the moment

The target market for AirAsia MOVE initially remains Southeast Asia, the region where the travel group is best known. In 2023, the year of AirAsia MOVE’s launch, Southeast Asia was one of the world’s fastest growing travel markets. Total travel gross bookings for Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore surged year-on-year by 65% to $52 billion, just shy of the record $54 billion recorded in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The industry’s outlook looks promising, with bookings expected to hit nearly $70 billion in 2026, with airline and hotel bookings topping an expected $42 billion and $25 billion respectively. 

An added spur to this growth is Southeast Asia’s large digitally savvy consumer-base, many ready to spend big on travel. Internet penetration rates among the region’s population of over 683 millionreached 80% by 2023, as regional smartphone users topped 326 million. 

Most significantly, online travel agencies are increasingly seen by Southeast Asian consumers as the preferred channel to purchase flights, accommodation and other travel experiences. In 2022, OTAs accounted for 57% of the region’s online travel market worth $10 billion; by 2026 this is predicted to hit 61%, or $30.5 billion — a threefold growth in four years. 

AirAsia MOVE was launched to seize the moment. But in doing so, entering Southeast Asia’s OTA space would prove far from plain sailing. What have been some of its roadblocks, and how did the group overcome them?

Barriers to entry

For one thing, there were already several hundred OTAs in the market, many with deep-rooted presence in Southeast Asia. Yet when it came to market share, a handful of players dominated the region’s key markets. AirAsia MOVE needed to differentiate itself from the competition, offering compelling reasons to use its service. It would also need to rapidly expand its market coverage beyond its current network.

A further consideration was brand alignment. The travel group’s mission is to democratize travel. Yet sourcing low-cost deals across hotels and other airlines that were affordable to consumers from some Southeast Asian markets would be a key challenge. Most OTAs rely on traditional booking channels, many of which typically can’t offer the lowest prices. 

AirAsia MOVE would also need to carefully tailor its customer experience. A recent study found that over 90% of Asian consumers prefer a personalized service, with three-quarters of shoppers saying they will reject brands that don’t meet their individual needs. Many platforms are serving irrelevant content to customers, hence their booking success rates tend to be low.

There was also the complex issue of bandwidth and security. To service millions of online users, the platform needed to process high traffic volumes and be resilient to blackouts and cyber-threats. 

A close partnership

Fortunately, help was at hand. PKFare was one of a handful of vendors that AirAsia MOVE turned to for support in realizing its vision. The two companies began their partnership in late 2023.

There were multiple reasons AirAsia MOVE chose PKFare. One was reach: PKFare granted AirAsia MOVE access to 600 airlines worldwide. It enabled the OTA to offer flight tickets, hotels and ancillary services to platform customers.

Another was PKFare’s unique multi-sourcing model that would allow AirAsia MOVE to secure flight tickets at the best available rates. Leveraging over 140 suppliers worldwide, the OTA would source fares from a wide range of channels, including new distribution capability (NDC) fares, airline APIs, web fares and exclusive inventories at special rates. Access to these is noteworthy, as many OTAs are unable to source such rates — an added enhancement for AirAsia MOVE’s competitive offering. 

PKFare’s use of advanced technology, including artificial intelligence and refined operational services, enabled AirAsia MOVE to create seamless personalized user experiences, as well as maximising the efficiency of its shopping, pricing and booking functionality. Critically to an audience impatient with misdirected offers, customers would only be served the most competitive offers that were of interest, based upon their searches and personal preferences. 

In addition, PKFare offers robust aggregation technology, including advanced cyber security features, minimal downtime and the bandwidth to handle high traffic volumes — all of which ensure the experiences of AirAsia MOVE customers can be timely and uninterrupted, thanks to superior levels of stability, speed and data integrity.

Exceeding expectation

One year since the launch of the partnership, PKFare’s support has demonstrably surpassed expectations. The platform has enabled AirAsia MOVE to increase sales by almost 30%. In Southeast Asia, the OTA’s key market, PKFare already facilitates over 50% of its regional sales. 

AirAsia MOVE’s seamless and personalized booking experience is paying dividends: booking success rates are close to 95% in 2024, thanks to PKFare’s advanced algorithms and adjacent technologies. The experience is fast too: with over 75% of requests garnering a response within three seconds.

Like so many facets of today’s travel industry, success is as much about the people behind the brand, as it is data and technology. The cultural synergies between the two companies have led to the development of a platform offering customers greater value, compared to traditional OTAs and AirAsia MOVE’s closest rivals.

Chan Kok Ding, chief of staff and head of business development at AirAsia MOVE, is delighted with the partnership so far. “The PKFare team is highly professional, with a strong customer-centric mindset and problem-solving skills. They carefully screen and provide only the most competitive and relevant content for AirAsia MOVE,” he said.

Most importantly, he asserts that the lessons learned to date have positioned the new-look OTA onto a runway that points towards sustained growth. “In leveraging its cutting-edge tech capabilities and operational excellence, the PKFare team is working closely with AirAsia MOVE to explore new growth opportunities and enhance booking experiences to our valued customers.”