The hope of an upturn in international travel with the development of vaccines is giving some airlines wings. This is the case forAirAsia and Turkish Airlines. Asia's largest low-cost carrier and one of Europe's aviation giants signed a cooperation agreement at the end of November that will see the launch of the combined sale of flights on both airlines' networks via the airasia.com application.
This collaboration will enable travellers to find itineraries on the app at attractive negotiated fares compared with standard rates.
Low cost goes hand in hand with Premium
The product could therefore appeal to European passengers. Turkish Airlines is in fact one of the leading European air operators to Asia. Before the covid crisis, the airline served 39 cities in 22 Asian countries from Istanbul. In Europe, Turkish was present in 2019 on 117 airports in 115 cities in 42 countries.
For its part, AirAsia operated a network of 150 towns mainly in Asia and the Pacific. Its three main hubs are Bangkok, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, with a significant number of flights also departing from Macau, Manila and Singapore.
According to AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes, " the airasia.com application aims to connect ASEAN to the rest of the world. We are delighted with our partnership with Turkish Airlines. It's an opportunity to promote Turkey as a major gateway to Europe. Such cooperation will prepare us for the resumption of travel which we hope will happen with the gradual reopening of borders next year. "
The airasia.com application will enable European users to benefit from a complete range of travel products. This includes not only flights, but also ground transfers, online product purchases and accommodation options. The application is already used by 75 million people across Asia.
However, the agreement with Turkish Airlines could sound the final death knell for AirAsia's European ambitions. The airline has long toyed with the idea of serving the European continent from Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.
