Bangalore: Eyeing an entry into the country's card loyalty programme segment, AirAsia on Tuesday 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, told PTI.
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 per cent 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 told reporters here.
"In conjunction with the arrival of BIG in India, AirAsia BIG is offering a flight promotion from Bengaluru to Chennai, Jaipur, Chandigarh and more from as low as 500 BIG Points, redemption period from now till 5 October for travel period of 13 October 2014 to 31 March 2015," Meng said.
With this partnership, members of both programmes can earn 10 HHonors Base points plus two big points for every US dollar spent during their stay at any hotel in Hilton Portfolio members staying at Hampton by Hilton are eligible to earn up to 200 Big Points, Meng said.
The low-cost carrier sector, particularly in Asia, is experiencing strong growth with massive demand driven by fast-growing economies and rising intra-regional travel, said Hilton Worldwide Vice President (Commercial Services Strategy, Loyalty Programs and Partnerships), Mark Weinstein.
