MALAYSIAN low-cost carrier AirAsia Group aims to disrupt the Southeast Asian air cargo sector by allowing customers to deal directly with the airline for their air shipping needs.
Speaking at a recent investors' presentation, group chief executive Tony Fernandes announced that the airline will consolidate all its cargo operations and aircraft belly space under a newly established and wholly-owned unit, called Red Cargo Logistics.
The move affects all its ASEAN-based units comprising the mainline Malaysian carrier, as well as AirAsia Philippines and Indonesia AirAsia. Its Thai AirAsia unit will come onboard in the second quarter of this year.
The group has also set a cargo revenue target of MYR400 million (US$98 million) for the full year of 2019, nearly double the revenue received for 2018, which stood at MYR206 million.
Mr Fernandes added that the group intends to double revenue for cargo with each year.
'(We are) building a fantastic blockchain system, which will partner other airlines. We will be very transparent in terms of moving cargo around Asia and Europe. We are about to announce seven other airlines that we will be going to partner with.'
He described the belly space of AirAsia Group's aircraft has being 'underutilised', with 26 per cent being used.
'Customers will come direct to us now. So they don't have to go through two or three middlemen. What would be a traditional air cargo (processing period) of 138 hours, we believe we can do in 12 hours.'
Mr Fernandes expects that 'very big brands' to tap on the AirAsia Group for its extensive air route network, as well as overall cheaper costs.
He also said that Red Cargo Logistics will heavily support what he called 'social commerce', reports Singapore's Channel News Asia.
WORLD SHIPPING
Speaking at a recent investors' presentation, group chief executive Tony Fernandes announced that the airline will consolidate all its cargo operations and aircraft belly space under a newly established and wholly-owned unit, called Red Cargo Logistics.
The move affects all its ASEAN-based units comprising the mainline Malaysian carrier, as well as AirAsia Philippines and Indonesia AirAsia. Its Thai AirAsia unit will come onboard in the second quarter of this year.
The group has also set a cargo revenue target of MYR400 million (US$98 million) for the full year of 2019, nearly double the revenue received for 2018, which stood at MYR206 million.
Mr Fernandes added that the group intends to double revenue for cargo with each year.
'(We are) building a fantastic blockchain system, which will partner other airlines. We will be very transparent in terms of moving cargo around Asia and Europe. We are about to announce seven other airlines that we will be going to partner with.'
He described the belly space of AirAsia Group's aircraft has being 'underutilised', with 26 per cent being used.
'Customers will come direct to us now. So they don't have to go through two or three middlemen. What would be a traditional air cargo (processing period) of 138 hours, we believe we can do in 12 hours.'
Mr Fernandes expects that 'very big brands' to tap on the AirAsia Group for its extensive air route network, as well as overall cheaper costs.
He also said that Red Cargo Logistics will heavily support what he called 'social commerce', reports Singapore's Channel News Asia.
WORLD SHIPPING