AirAsia’s Teleport unit ramping up

Teleport, the logistics venture of airasia digital, is ramping up its delivery and digital cargo capabilities to meet significant e-commerce growth that has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has encouraged consumers to trust and rely on the convenience of e-commerce, boosting growth of the industry. Last year, digital e-commerce sales grew by 28 percent globally. This trajectory will be further bolstered by increased speed and highest quality cross border delivery alongside enhanced convenience and the lowest rates. 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 Tony Fernandes. (PHOTO: Shutterstock) Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia Group said, “Teleport is an integral part of the digital travel and lifestyle ecosystem we are building to become the ASEAN super app of choice. I am extremely proud of what Teleport has achieved in just three years. Our logistics venture is going from strength to strength to match overwhelming demand with robust plans for expansion in the future. Teleport 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. The team managed to pivot their cargo business to expand to door-to-door deliveries at the start of the pandemic, utilising the vast network that AirAsia has built over the last 20 years in Southeast Asia. Importantly, 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 network, 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, Laos.” he said. (PHOTO: Teleport) Leveraging AirAsia’s network in Southeast Asia is a key competitive advantage for Teleport, which has connected its ground services with the airline’s expansive air network to deliver industry leading logistics throughout the region focused on same day deliveries where possible, at the lowest cost. 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 hours 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. This expansion will be supported by a rapidly growing crowdsourced fleet of over 3,720 onboarded delivery partners across the region. Approximately 20 percent of the pool consists of AirAsia Allstars including pilots and cabin crew affected by the pandemic. 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, driving efficiency while also improving connectivity to and from Teleport’s medium to long-haul markets. For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Matt Driskill at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Head of Sales Kay Rolland at [email protected]