AirAsia To Push Further To Embrace Digital Transformation

SEPANG (Selangor, Malaysia), March 18 (Bernama) -- AirAsia will continue to further digitise its business operations and services as part of its aspiration# to transform into a digital airline. Group Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes said the roots of the airline was digital as it started with Internet and being a very social media-based airline. "In terms of how digitilised the airline is, to my assessment, we are only about 30 per cent from what is available out there, but many are still way behind us. "But I hope by end of 2018, we will be like more than 70 per cent digitilised," he told reporters after the launch of the 'Airvolution 2017: Spearheading Innovation in ASEAN', the airline's inaugural hackathon event, here Saturday. By being more digitalised, he hopes to see the use of more Internet of Things, big data analytics, and more paperless operation moving forward in the airline operations and the services. This, he said would result in substantial cost savings, as well as increased customer experience and satisfaction which would translate into more revenue generation in future. Fernandes said hackathon was introduced as he saw the airline was not moving fast enough into the digital direction by leveraging the in-house sources, as well as big information and technology companies. "So, with the young and innovative people, we hope to see new fresh ideas to help us along," he said. Twenty five-member developer teams from are taking part in the two-day event. Unlike other hackathons, which aimed at general hacking, the AsiaAirvolution 2017 focuses on finding solutions that can help solve issues in the airline market. The event, which was sponsored by Microsoft, AirAsia Santan, AirAsia BIG Loyalty Programme, among others, is open to participants of any nationality currently residing in any of the 26 markets covered by AirAsia's extensive network. The airline said the solutions submitted during the hackathon would be reviewed by a panel of technology and aviation experts, who would select the best, based on originality, scalability and execution. The winners will be announced on Sunday and will receive a cash prize, AirAsia BIG Points and free return flights to the AirAsia destination of their choice, it added. --BERNAMA