Airasia exits food delivery, strengthens ride hailing via smart partnership with Foodpanda

• Customers of both apps will be able to hail rides, order food, get groceries delivered
• Future expansion includes payment solutions, loyalty programs, subscription plans

Three years after it launched its food delivery service in May 2020, Airasia has decided this is not a business that it can compete in profitably and has executed a smart exit by partnering with established food delivery leader, Foodpanda while immediately strengthening its ride hailing business and with the opportunity to market various other services as well. Under the partnership announced last week, the two parties will share features in other’s apps with Airasia incorporating its ride hailing service into the Foodpanda app, while Foodpanda will include its food and grocery delivery service into the airasia Superapp. 

“This platform partnership will enable us to leverage on each others’ strengths - Foodpanda’s food and grocery delivery prowess and our ride-hailing services backed by a complete travel superapp ecosystem, both a necessity for travellers and everyday users of both apps alike. There is so much potential where both Airasia and Foodpanda can further explore together, such as payment solutions via BigPay, joint loyalty programs with Airasia rewards, possible subscription plans and much more,” said Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A. 

In turn, Foodpanda - which claims to be the largest on-demand food and grocery delivery service in Asia outside China - will be powering the superapp’s food delivery service, connecting millions of Airasia Superapp users to Foodpanda’s extensive network of more than 100,000 merchants and thousands of delivery partners.

“We’ve both built great services that Malaysian customers have grown to rely on and love - so this is a natural partnership to jointly offer great value, variety and convenience to all our customers,” added Jakob Angele, CEO of Foodpanda.

With this Foodpanda app users in selected areas in Klang Valley —with more areas to be added later— will be able to get rides from their app and Airasia Superapp users will have access to merchants and delivery partners from their app. At the same time, Airasia’s food offerings will move towards a dine-in model. 

To celebrate the partnership, both Airasia and Foodpanda will offer ride-hailing and food delivery deals to their users.