KUALA LUMPUR, 18 June 2021: AirAsia is transforming a couple of A320s to carry cargo powered by the group’s Teleport, a logistics venture of AirAsia digital.
The group will strip out the passenger cabin layout on the two aircraft to ramp up cargo capabilities to meet significant e-commerce growth that the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated. Last year, digital e-commerce sales grew globally by 28%, the airline reports. The trend is expected to gain further momentum as consumers continue to embrace e-commerce, which is expected to amount to over 3 billion users in Asia by 2025.
AirAsia Group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes commented: “Teleport is an integral part of the digital travel and lifestyle ecosystem we are building to become the ASEAN super app of choice… Our logistics venture has achieved an impressive triple increase in revenue in Q1 2021 versus Q4 2020, back to pre-pandemic revenue and growing faster than before. We now have a dedicated freighter aircraft and have converted two A320 passenger aircraft to provide cargo-only services to facilitate rapid forecast growth in ASEAN and beyond.
“Teleport is leading the way with same-day deliveries and is also connecting to many of the smaller cities that are only accessible by our networks, such as the recent shipments for the United Nations World Food Program from our Kuala Lumpur hub and the delivery of medical supplies to Vientiane in Laos,” he said.
24 hours delivery
Since launching door-to-door delivery services in 77 cities in five countries by the end of 2020, Teleport has successfully delivered cargo and other consumer products in under 24 hours on two-way routes between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu. 24- hour delivery services will soon be expanding from Kuala Lumpur to Penang, Malacca, Johor and Ipoh in Malaysia and other international and domestic routes in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The continued growth of Teleport will be accelerated by the addition of the company’s first dedicated freighter, a Boeing 737-800F and by the conversion of two AirAsia A320 passenger aircraft, with seats removed for increased capacity of freight and cargo delivery in Q3 2021.
The additional capacity of these three cargo-only planes and connection with other third-party airlines, freighters, trucks and vans will strengthen Teleport’s capabilities, not only on existing short-haul routes but also in key markets like China, India and new markets throughout Southeast Asia.
About Teleport
Founded in 2018, Teleport is a venture under AirAsia digital, building out the logistics ambitions for AirAsia. Currently, Teleport is present in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Singapore and China.
