AirAsia offers 1.5 million promo seats for sale; fares starting from Rs 690

AirAsia continues with its pledge to make air travel affordable and accessible to everyone by kicking off its latest promotion, with 1.5 million seats up for grabs with fare from as low as Rs 690 one way.

AirAsia India is offering all inclusive fare from as low as Rs 690 from Bengaluru to Chennai/Kochi/Goa and Rs 2390 from Bengaluru to Jaipur & Chandigarh. This offer is also available on AirAsia Berhad and Thai AirAsia flights. All inclusive fare is available from as low as Rs 4999 from Chennai/Kochi/Kolkata/Tiruchirappalli/Bengaluru to Kuala Lumpur and Rs 4500 from Chennai to Bangkok.

Guests can book on www.airasia.com from now until 5th Oct 2014, for the travel period from 15 Jan – 30 Jun 2015. Booking for this promotion is available at www.airasia.com from now till 5 October 2014, with the travel period from 15 January – 30 June 2015. Booking is also available via AirAsia's mobile apps on iPhone, Android devices and the Blackberry 10, and also AirAsia's mobile site at mobile.airasia.com. Eyeing an entry into the country's card loyalty programme segment, AirAsia said it is in discussion with banks to expand its regional reach. "Actually to be honest, we have been in discussions for a while with Indian banks - private and public - to enter into card loyalty programme to expand regional reach," Loh Wai Meng, chief operating officer of AirAsia BIG, the global loyalty programme of the Malaysia-based carrier said.

The tie ups will help bank cardholders to convert their reward points to BIG Points and fly AirAsia. Meng said the company is expecting to make announcements in this regard by early next year. "We are hoping sometime early next year to make announcements pertaining to our tie up with Indian banks," he said.

He also said the low-cost airline company has already partnered with prominent banks outside India, including Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

"Outside India, almost every bank has partnered with us in Malayasia and Thailand. We have (tied up with) biggest bank in Singapore. We just tied up with DBS and Starhub in Singapore at the end of 2013," Meng said.

He said AirAsia BIG has 400 partners, representing petrol stations, shopping malls and banks, which are mutually beneficial to both companies.

Asked about their competitors and how they plan to face them, Meng said their main competitors of providing loyalty programme are the traditional airliners, not low-cost airliners in India, and hence they were in an advantageous position.

Inspite of this, the company plans to sign up multitudes of partners to launch loyalty programme so that their 12 million AirAsia members could earn points after availing their services, Meng said.

"We try to sign up with multitude of partners. In Malaysia, we have tied up with petrol stations, shopping malls and funeral parlours," he said, adding,"We try to sign up with multitude of partners so that our members can earn points from every service-provider," he added. To another query, he said the company hopes to contribute 20% of Asia's revenue in about three years time.

Earlier, Hilton HHonors, the loyalty programme for Hilton Worldwide's 11 distinct hotel brands, announced a new partnership with AirAsia BIG, one of Asia's leading loyalty programmes.

The partnership allows members of both AirAsia BIG and Hilton HHonors to earn BIG points and HHonors points when they stay at any of the more than 4,200 hotels and timeshare properties within the Hilton worldwide portfolio around the globe, Meng added.