The airasia Super App is pushing the ride-hailing service industry to the next level by announcing a full employment option for drivers of its e-hailing arm -- airasia ride -- to attract them to the platform.
The move will begin in Malaysia on Oct 1 and will then expand to other countries, including Thailand.
The airline's Super App is part of airasia Digital, the digital arm of Malaysia-based Capital A, formerly AirAsia Group.
In May, airasia ride was launched in Bangkok, meaning Thailand became the second country after Malaysia for the firm's Asean expansion.
Regarding the full employment offer for drivers, Tony Fernandes, chief executive of Capital A, said this is the firm's strategy to attract and retain drivers while meeting the surge in demand for e-hailing.
"We became the first in the region to offer independent delivery riders a full-time job, and today we commemorate airasia ride's first year in operations by announcing an offer to all qualified airasia ride drivers of full-time employment," said Mr Fernandes.
He said drivers are the most important part of the ride-hailing business.
He said the company sees its competitors penalise drivers for not taking jobs they do not intend to do.
"We see it from another perspective and reward drivers who have shown a good track record and strong commitment to the job by offering them a solid career path with airasia ride," said Mr Fernandes.
"Any independent drivers can opt to become a contract driver or be a full-time Allstar Ride Hailing driver with better income, and grow into corporate roles at airasia ride, including being a fleet manager, driver coach, or operations executive," he said.
With a full-time job, drivers will have job stability, secured income and better living standards.
"We think this is a groundbreaking thing similar to what we have done in low-cost airlines. We would like to attract new drivers into the systems and open for freedom of choice," said Mr Fernandes.
Launched in August last year, airasia ride now has 53,000 registered drivers and has completed two million rides to date. It is now operating in Malaysia and Thailand and planning to expand its reach to Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Lim Chiew Shan, regional chief executive for airasia ride, said its ride hailing services with private cars will be provided in Thailand in October. Its taxi services in Thailand have been operating since the end of May and there are now 3,000 drivers.
Mr Fernandes said the company is aiming to pursue merger and acquisition deals as well as using partnerships to drive its business expansion.
He said the company has innovation, a customer database and information about people's access to airports which can be useful for business partnership.
According to statistics portal Statista, the online ride-hailing and food delivery market in Asean amounts to US$13 billion. It is expected to surge to $42 billion by 2025.
