Asia’s well-known low-cost carrier, AirAsia Group, which has been operating since 1993, has changed its name to Capital A. The move reflects its growing business portfolio as it expands to become more than a budget airline.
“Today’s announcement reinforces we are not just an airline anymore,” CEO of Capital A, Tony Fernandes announced in a statement. “The pandemic has allowed us to accelerate that strategy.”
AirAsia Group is now Capital A
— airasia Super App (@airasia) January 28, 2022
• New corporate identity to better reflect the Group’s core businesses and its future undertakings as rapid digital transformation takes shape
• Represents exciting new era as more than just an airline https://t.co/S2nwg9Zeb7
The company not only offers low-cost flight and travel deals but everyday lifestyle needs such as food delivery, retail, and e-commerce. It has 16 products on its Super App. The company anticipates that nonairline revenues will contribute around 50% of overall group revenue by 2026.
The group proposed to change its name in early January 2022.
However, Fernandes reaffirmed that the company would retain the AirAsia brand for its airline affiliates as it is “one of the strongest brands in Asia and provides a solid platform for all of our other products and services to leverage from each other”.
Currently, the company has five affiliate carriers, including AirAsia Malaysia, AirAsia Indonesia, AirAsia Philippines, AirAsia Thailand, and low-cost long-haul carrier AirAsia X. During a launch event in Kuala Lumpur, Fernandes told reporters that the group planned to launch two more airline affiliates but declined to provide more details.
The airline business is expected to return to normal capacity by the middle of the third quarter of 2022, according to the company.
“Domestic air travel has already started to rebound in our key markets,” Fernandes added. “While there may be some delays for international flights to return to pre-Covid levels due to the Omicron variant, I believe this will be short-lived as many global health experts are also predicting, alongside accelerated vaccines and booster shots as well as the world gradually learning to live with Covid.”