The COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, bought it to its knees, and widely impacted the Travel and Tourism industry. In turn, the Air industry was devastated as most of the nations locked out their borders, and most airlines were grounded for a brief period. Malaysian AirAsia Group Bhd is now planning to launch Air taxi service and the nation’s first drone delivery service.
Chief Executive Tony Fernandes of Malaysian AirAsia Bhd group has announced this following the diversification push that the company has planned.
The announcement from the CEO came at the Youth Economic Forum 2021. The CEO also stated that the airline’s logistics unit Teleport is currently testing an urban drone delivery service with a government-backed Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) and is expected to make its first commercial delivery by the end of 2021.
The airline has been struggling for the past couple of years and also reported a fifth straight quarterly loss in November and is now looking to seek new investments and loans from investors for nearly 2.5 billion ringgits.
The CEO has also stated that the services are expected to start in the next 18 months. As the firm was suffering and recovering from the COVID-19 impact, this diversification accelerated its digital transformation and decided to diversify into various new streams.