AirAsia Group Bhd, A Malaysian budget airline, has announced its plans to launch a flying taxi service as soon as next year.
Tony Fernandes, the company’s chief executive officer and co-founder, said on Saturday, “We are working on that right now.” “I think we’ll be ready to launch in about a year and a half”.
AirAsia has been expanding in the digital space as the airline industry has been hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, Airasia released a “mega app” that includes everything from travel and shopping to logistics and financial services.
“We took it as an opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to recast your business, re-look at things,” the CEO said.
AirAsia plans to launch its own e-hailing services in April, Fernandes said. He added that the flying taxis, he hopes to start offering next year, will have up to four seats and will be operated by a quadcopter.
Separately, the company announced on Saturday that it would develop an urban drone delivery service in collaboration with the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre, a state agency.
Although AirAsia is searching for new ways to improve its facilities, Fernandes believes that with the implementation of vaccination programs, air travel will soon recover. The company operates low-cost flights between 22 countries, the majority of which are in Asia.
“I hope interstate travel will begin within Malaysia in the next two to three weeks,” said Fernandes. International borders are expected to open in July or August, according to him.
