AirAsia Move Offers Unlimited Flights for $250 – See the Caveats

25.04.2024 - 21:49 / skift.com / Peden Doma Bhutia / Tony Fernandes

Looking to establish itself as the number 1 online travel agency in Southeast Asia, Air Asia Move, previously known as AirAsia superapp, announced the launch of its ASEAN Explorer Pass on Thursday.

“We are very focused on being the number 1 OTA in ASEAN, not just in flights, but the whole package,” said Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A, the parent company of AirAsia Move.

An annual subscription of the newly launched pass allows subscribers to access unlimited flights for a year on AirAsia’s international and domestic flight network across 10 countries in Southeast Asia — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. It includes benefits like hotel discounts and connectivity through AirAsia Ride for a full year.

The ASEAN Explorer Pass will be available at a special early-bird price of RM999 ($208) until April 30, after which, the pass will revert to its original price of RM1,188 ($248.50).

The ASEAN Explorer Pass follows the Unlimited ASEAN Pass, which was introduced last month with a limited purchase window. The new pass retains the same price but includes domestic travel options. Some key points to keep in mind:

“We disrupted travel 23 years ago, by creating a low-cost carrier. We’re going to disrupt it again, and make travel to longer destinations much cheaper,” Fernandes said.

Announcing the launch of the pass, Fernandes compared the ASEAN pass to the Eurail pass. “Only we do it on a plane in ASEAN that will take you to the corners of the region,” he said.

The pass also highlights AirAsia MOVE’s commitment to promoting exploration beyond popular destinations.

“There’ll be days that you can’t get the seat to the destination that you want, but there will always be a seat for you to go somewhere in this amazing region of 700 million people,” Fernandes said.

He said, the AirAsia Move team is already in talks with a “national carrier” to join ASEAN Pass. The ultimate dream he said is to get all the ASEAN airlines to be a part of this product.

“This is not just for AirAsia. It’s about making ASEAN smaller and about allowing people to travel more and experience more over the next few years. We will add more special benefits, in terms of hotels and restaurants, so that travelers get to not just fly there, but see more,” he added.

Data from AirAsia Move’s previous travel pass in December 2022 shows strong demand for intra-ASEAN travel, with over 80,000 international flights redeemed annually, AirAsia MOVE said in a statement.

“This is a genuine attempt for everyone to go and see the amazing places in ASEAN. And we hope the world will treat ASEAN as a single destination going forward,” Fernandes said.

And as Malaysia aims to attract more than 30