AirAsia targets sale of 100,000 seats to civil servants

The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia Bhd is hoping to sell more than 100,000 airplane seats to civil servants by the end of the year, which will translate to about RM50mil in revenue.

Its commercial executive vice-president Kathleen Tan said that since introducing the Government Fare Scheme in June, more than 5,000 discounted tickets have been sold every month to civil servants.

“Response has been great. By the end of 2009, we are looking to get 50% of the RM500mil spent by the Government every year on travelling,” she told the press here on Thursday.

She said this after AirAsia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) on Thursday to provide affordable travel for government servants across Asia.

Under the scheme, all government officials can get a 20% to 30% discount on the published fares for all AirAsia destinations on work-related travels.

Tan also said that the most popular routes for civil servants were to China, Indonesia and domestic routes.

When asked if AirAsia would reduce its fuel surcharge in view of declining world crude oil prices, Tan said that there was a possibility.

“We will have to watch, but if it drops low enough, we will consider reviewing the fuel surcharge,” she said.

Also present was AirAsia Bhd chairman Datuk Aziz Bakar and Matta president Ngiam Foon, who both signed the MoU.