AirAsia pivoting to cashless bookings with BIGPay e-wallet launch
AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes formally announced the launch of the company’s cashless e-wallet, which will tap business from the airline group’s database of 63 million passengers.
While he expects much of its short term growth to come from cashless ticket transactions, Fernandes says the BigPay wallet will ultimately be a more valuable business than the airline itself.
As usual he took to Twitter to make the announcement.
"One day this product will be worth more than @AirAsia . Many features being rolled out. Soon no more cash on AirAsia," he tweeted.
BigPay is also collaborating with ride hailing services Uber and Grab, and hotel and flight booking site Traveloka.
The service is fully licensed as a financial entity after gaining approval from Bank Negara Malaysia.
It uses the BigPay card, which functions as a prepaid card enabling customer to top up funds before making transactions.
AirAsia customers using BIGPay will pay no processing fees for flight bookings made on the AirAsia website and will enjoy regular special promotional fares.
The card can be used at up to 30 million outlets where Mastercard is accepted.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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