AirAsia sells duty-free online

Thai AirAsia, through an agreement with King Power Duty-Free, is selling duty-free items online that can be picked up prior to a flight?s departure at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Passengers need to show the receipt, boarding pass and passport to take delivery.

Initially, the airline?s shopping site will offer 100 items from 39 brands available ? cosmetics, confectionery, perfume, pens, watches, jewelry, leather goods, toys and electronics. More items will be added in the future.

Prices are the same as at the airport and King Power complex in Soi Rang Nam, but King Power members are still eligible for an extra discount at the airline website.

Thai AirAsia CEO, Tassapon Bijleveld said: ?This is very convenient for passengers, who have tight schedule and don?t want to spend too much time at the airport.?

He believes the partnership could earn as much as Bt100 million, during the first year. He gave no details of the revenue split.

Mr Tassapon downplayed the contribution saying other areas such as cargo, insurance, food and premiums would exceed Bt1 billion, this year, up Bt200 million from last year. The overall revenue will reach Bt12 billion based on an uplift of 6.2 million passengers.

Network expansion from Suvarnabhumi hub will focus on India ? Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, and Hyderabad.

From the Phuket hub, the airline will maintain existing routes, but will increase frequencies on busy routes such as Udon Thani from four times a week to daily and Hong Kong from one daily flight to two.

?The average load factor on our Phuket flight is currently 85%, but we have a relatively weak performance on Ho Chi Minh City and Medan routes. However, we will maintain services. Recently, our marketing team and the Phuket tourism Association visited the two cities to promote the routes,? said Mr Tassapon.

By September, the last six Boeing 737 will be decommissioned giving the airline an all-A320 fleet. Eight of the aircraft are to be delivered this year and six in 2011.

Sourced = The TTR Weekly