AirAsia SuperApp says authorised to sell tickets from all airlines

The management of AirAsia Super App today said that its online travel agency (OTA) platform is licensed and accredited to sell flights from any airline on its app and website.

AirAsia Super App acting CEO, Mohamad Hafidz Mohamad Fadzil, said its flight inventories come from both established partner aggregators as well as direct airline partners, a common OTA industry practice.

“Other airlines’ flights contribute a small percentage of our platform’s revenue and to date, we have sold 1.72 million seats from more than 700 airlines that are available on our channel.

"As any (other) accredited OTA in the market, we will continue to sell flights from any airlines, including those we do not have direct relationships with through our established partner aggregators and consolidators," Hafidz said in a statement today.

On Wednesday, Transport Minister Anthony Loke revealed that Malaysia Airlines was seeking an injunction to stop the Airasia Super App from offering the airline’s flight tickets for sale and was informed about price discrepancies.

Malaysian Aviation Group managing director, Captain Izham Ismail, said MAG filed the injunction as it could not reach a commercial agreement prior to this, and AirAsia continued to sell the group’s inventory.

In response, Hafidz, said: "We wish to put on record that the Malaysia Airlines flight tickets displayed on the Airasia SuperApp were taken from inventories supplied by our established partner aggregators, and the flight fares and fare class (economy or business) information is supplied directly by our partner aggregators without any intervention from Airasia SuperApp."

"The same fare information was also displayed in other OTA platforms," he said.

At the same time, Hafidz also said the injunction filed by Malaysia Airlines was based on allegations of potential trademark infringement and passing off, and unrelated to the supply of inventory.

"We continue to call on MAS and other airlines to partner directly with the Airasia SuperApp to achieve better efficiency and performance.

"We will be happy to move our conversation forward on working together to offer Malaysians the best value when it comes to travel, and win together," he added.

Aside from Malaysia Airlines, financial daily The Edge yesterday reported that Batik Air demanded Airasia SuperApp to immediately remove and delete all the airline’s products and services on the platform, saying it has never given its consent for them to be placed on the app.

The airline - which is a part of the Lion Air Group - claimed that the app had acted in an "unauthorised manner" by selling the airline’s and Super Air Jet’s flights on its platform.

MAG confirms injunction filed against AirAsia over MAS ticket sales

Ministry looks to boost flight capacity, reduce festive season prices

Calling me to send-off won't solve flight woes: Wee to Loke

Loke invites Wee to send off passengers in airfare row