AirAsia Ride, the ride-hailing unit of Malaysia’s Capital A, is looking at launching in the Philippines in the first quarter of next year, Capital A’s CEO Tony Fernandes has confirmed.
Fernandes, who was in Cebu during the weekend to attend a sideline event to the Asia Pacific Business Advisory Council (ABAC) meeting, said the launch is imminent as AirAsia Ride’s team on the ground are already finalizing the ride-hailing permit in the Philippines.
“We want to give Grab a run for their money. It will be fully owned but people have been approaching us for partnership,” Fernandes said in an interview.
Among those reported to be wanting to partner with AirAsia Ride is local motorcycle-hailing company Angkas. Fernandes said partnering with Angkas will be interesting if they want to work with AirAsia Ride.
“The Philippines needs competition. We want to inject a little bit of red into green,” he added, alluding to Grab’s dominance in the local ride-hailing space.
AirAsia Ride is already operating in Malaysia and Thailand. In Malaysia, its home base, AirAsia Ride is about 30% cheaper than Grab, Fernandes added.
He added that the group’s ride-hailing business model is unique since it plans to hire full-time drivers, who are entitled to benefits such as insurance and pension.
AirAsia Ride will pay its drivers full salary and give them access to AirAsia flights, underscoring its focus on considering their drivers as the most important people in the business.
Around up to 2,000 jobs can be generated in the Philippines with the venture and other businesses in the next two to three years, he said, possibly more if the venture succeeds.
Aside from launching in the Philippines, AirAsia Ride also plans to roll-out e-hailing services in Indonesia and Singapore.
Fernandes recently met Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista to discuss the planned launch of AirAsia Ride. The team, he said, is already working on securing the permit.
Capital A is a company renamed from AirAsia Group in 2022. The name change reflects the group’s new core business strategy as an investment holding company with a portfolio of synergistic travel and lifestyle business.
Grab Philippines was fined with a P9-million penalty by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) due to its failure to refund its customers more than three years after it was ordered to do so.
The PCC said it imposed a P6-million fine on Grab in a resolution on Feb. 2, citing violations of three separate PCC orders for the company to return a combined P25.45 million to its customers.
Another P3-million fine was imposed on Grab for providing incorrect and misleading information in their compliance reports.