How AirAsia Spun Off an OTA that Now Competes with its Own Airline

AirAsia once commanded a 70% direct-booking share. Then it made a counterintuitive move: it built an OTA that sells competitor airlines.

Ravi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer of AirAsia MOVE, explains why offering customer choice even when it cannibalises your core business is the only way to stay relevant. And how building community features that seem “useless” at first glance might become your strongest competitive edge.

See how AirAsia turned customer insight into a business model steadily growing non-AirAsia revenue.

The Consumer Insight That Changed Everything

“Consumers wanted choice. If we don’t stay relevant, if we don’t offer that choice, they won’t come to us.” AirAsia saw flying preferences and booking preferences diverging. Customers still loved flying AirAsia but they wanted to book elsewhere for comparison, loyalty points, or payment flexibility.

Instead of resisting, AirAsia leaned in, spinning off AirAsia MOVE as a standalone OTA selling hotels, rides, and even competitor flights.

💡 Retail takeaway: When shoppers want to compare you to competitors, you can either let them leave your ecosystem — or become the platform where they compare. Only one keeps the relationship.

Localisation Without Centralisation

AirAsia MOVE’s famous “mega sales” run simultaneously across markets but each region controls its own creative and execution.

“One thing that doesn’t work is a centralized team,” Shankar notes. That autonomy turned the monthly sale into a growth engine, with 100 K+ subscribers engaging via the in-app Messenger community.

💡 Retail takeaway: Global scale doesn’t require global control. Local autonomy creates cultural relevance and conversion.

Customer Happiness Over Customer Service

Expanding into hotels, rides, and experiences multiplied complexity. AirAsia learned that sometimes, acknowledgment beats resolution.

“People just want assurance that we’re on it,” Shankar says. Now the team is building an AI-powered ‘customer happiness board’ using LLMs and years of support data to generate itineraries, track flights, and anticipate issues before they arise.

💡 Retail takeaway: As you diversify, service friction compounds. AI can turn reactive support into proactive reassurance.

The Partnership Advantage Global Brands Can’t Copy

“Global platforms all use Google, TikTok, Meta. Beyond that, it’s hard for them to grow.”

AirAsia MOVE’s edge lies in regional partnerships like tourism boards, long-standing KOLs, and niche brands like Eclipse for Muslim travel.

💡 Retail takeaway: Platform access is commoditized. Local partnerships and cultural fluency aren’t.

Building Community Where Transactions Happen

AirAsia MOVE auto-creates flight-specific chat groups two weeks before departure, connecting passengers via flight number. “We want to give travelers peer-to-peer interactions that have been missing in the virtual world,” Shankar says.

💡 Retail takeaway: Community is the connective tissue between transactions. If discovery happens on one platform and conversion on another, you’ve lost the relationship.

The Shift That Matters

Shankar’s approach shows that true customer-centricity sometimes means selling competitors, decentralizing control, and investing in features that build belonging.

Watch the full interview with Ravi Shankar to see how AirAsia MOVE blends commerce, content, and community into a travel super-app model.