AirAsia Group rebrands to Capital A to reflect new biz strategy

AirAsia Group has rebranded the group holding company to Capital A. The name change reflects the Group’s new core business strategy as an investment holding company with a portfolio of synergistic travel and lifestyle businesses, which have rapidly transformed the AirAsia brand into much more than just an airline. The name change will not have any effect on the company's operations.

CEO of Capital A, Tony Fernandes said: “This is not just about unveiling a new logo. It’s a significant milestone that marks a new era for the Group. Today’s announcement reinforces we are not just an airline anymore."

According to him, the strategy behind the name change is to introduce a new corporate identity that better reflects the Group’s core businesses today and its future undertakings, in tandem with the Group's transformation from an airline into a one-stop digital travel and lifestyle services group. Fernandes added:

We believe that the new company name will also further enhance the marketability of our products and boost the success of our Group for the long haul.

While the airline will always underpin the AirAsia brand, Fernandes said it has long been his firm intention, well before COVID hit, to leverage the strong data the company has built up over 20 years and incorporate industry-leading new technologies to offer a broad range of products and services, over and above selling just airfares. "The pandemic has allowed us to accelerate that strategy," he added.

“While Capital A will be the new Group holding company name, one thing that isn’t changing is the AirAsia brand name for our airlines. It’s one of the strongest brands in Asia and provides a solid platform for all of our other products and services to leverage from each other," he said.

Essentially Capital A is an investment company with a broad portfolio of businesses which all aim to deliver the best value at the lowest cost, supported by strong data built up over two decades. It will also ride on one of Asia's leading brands, a strong people-first culture and an underlying promise of remaining committed to serving the underserved.

Currently, there are 16 products and services on its airasia Super App, from food and retail to eCommerce, ride hailing and same day delivery. There are more than 50 million monthly unique users on its super app and its fintech business, BigPay, has also received US$100 million in funds from SK Group. Overall, Fernandes said the Group has raised over RM2.5 billion to date through its fundraising strategy. "Following strong consumer and investor support for our transformation strategy, we now set our sights on further capital raising initiatives for the airasia Super App, Teleport and ADE which will be announced in due course," he added.

By 2026, Capital A aims to connect over a billion people in ASEAN, have 10 million monthly active users for BigPay, and take up 10% market share in Southeast Asia for Teleport. It also aims to achieve 21 million monthly orders on airasia grocer and five million sign ups on AirAsia Academy. 

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