Trade grows in importance for AirAsia X

Trade grows in importance for AirAsia X

The Australian travel trade is becoming an increasingly important sales channel for Kuala Lumpur-based low cost carrier AirAsia X.

In June last year, the airline forged a landmark key supplier agreement with Flight Centre which included creating products exclusively for the agency group.

The preferred agreement was the first of its kind for the airline in Australia, a market which chief executive Benyamin Ismail believes holds “solid growth opportunities”.

And although Australian travel agents contributed less than 10% of overall revenue from Australia for 2015 with direct sales set to remain the cornerstone of AirAsia’s business model, according to Ismail a shift towards the trade is underway.

“It is small but growing, and we have put more resources into servicing this important source of business,” he told Travel Weekly.

“In a market like Australia, the role of the travel trade is very important. We recognize the need for customers to be able to access us easily through a number of channels.”

The airline has inked deals with the major global distribution systems (GDS) used by the trade, most recently signing an agreement to provide all of its fares and ancillary services to Travelport-connected agents for the first time in March 2014.

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