AirAsia Group has changed its name to Capital A after it was tagged as a “financially distressed firm”

AirAsia Group Berhad has announced that it has changed its name to Capital A. The name change is a part of the group’s “new core business strategy” to transform AirAsia into “much more than just an airline”. The shift also features a new logo, which weirdly looks a lot like the Airbnb logo.

“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,” said Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A.

Fernandes also said that the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed the company to go “over and above selling just airfares”. During the travel lockdown last year, AirAsia transformed its brand into a SuperApp to compete with the likes of Grab, GoJek, and WeChat—and Fernandes aimed for AirAsia to be “the largest food delivery and eHailing company in Asia“.

“Just like what the airline has done from day one, all of our different lines of business will deliver the same strategy that is underscored by doing what we do best—making travel and everyday lifestyle services affordable, accessible and inclusive to all,” continued Fernandes.

In early January it was reported that AirAsia Group has been classified as a PN17 company under Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE)—which puts it at risk of being delisted. After that, the company said that it was working on a plan to “regularise its financial condition”. CGS-CIMB Research has also indicated that it will be tough for AirAsia Group to uplift itself from the status without significant equity capital raising. 

“We have pivoted, we have transformed and we have a five-year plan in place which will see nonairline revenues contributing around 50 percent of overall Group revenue by 2026. Once the airlines return to pre-Covid levels in the near future all of our other lines of business will benefit significantly and will all soar to new heights in tandem with one another,” Fernandes added.

Here’s what Capital A wants to achieve by 2026:

• Group airlines connecting over 1 billion people in Asean. 
• The engineering division (ADE) becomes an industry leader for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services in Southeast Asia.
• airasia Super App to be the super app of choice in Asean.
• 10 million monthly active users for BigPay.
• 10% market share in Southeast Asia for Teleport, in the logistics and e-commerce industry.
• 5 million sign ups for edutech arm AirAsia Academy.
• Over 21 million monthly orders on airasia grocer.

Last year, Facebook also rebranded its company—to Meta. Facebook’s rebrand appears to do more with the whistleblower reports that claims there are problems with the algorithms behind the social network. 

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• Tony Fernandes: AirAsia aims to be the largest food delivery and eHailing company in Asia