Malaysia’s AirAsia to inaugurate air taxi and drone delivery services by 2022

The Malaysian airlines AirAsia is targeting the launch of its air taxi services. The news came from the revelation from the CEO of AirAsia Group that the company is bringing the country’s first drone delivery services within a year and a half.

The budget-friendly airline company plans on diversifying its range of services, especially keeping the coronavirus pandemic, by exploring the digital horizon. The company is targeting urban drone delivery with Teleport, the logistic initiative of AirAsia Digital. It can witness the partnership between the Creativity Centre (MaGIC) and Malaysian Global Innovation to uphold the long-term success of urban drone delivery services. The former being the lead secretariat of the Innovation Sandbox (NTIS) and National Technology. 

Through a six-month period trial phase, a pilot project will be operated for the delivery of goods from AirAsia’s e-commerce platform. At the third NTIS test site in Cybergia, automated drones will be tested via two drone operators Meraque Services and VStream Revolution.

In the initial phase of the project, the drone operators will evaluate several parameters like capability, approval process, deployment readiness, experience, and service expansion. After the successful pilot trial run, the services will be implemented and extended beyond the sandbox environment.

The air taxi service of AirAsia also envisaged the use of quadcopters for the upcoming year, having seating accommodation for up to four passengers. Although the question still remains whether these vehicles will be fully automated or operate with a pilot, as per the safety requirements, the latter sounds more viable. Also, prior to the start of the service, adequate regulations are needed for the landing of these taxis.

Currently, NTIS is working strictly with the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM), the single technical regulator of the country. It emphasizes the safety and security in the urban atmosphere related to the unmanned air services fulfilling the criteria and regulations set by the CAAM.

In Malaysia, the matters of air services, including drones, comes under the purview of CAAM. For any type of aerial work, AirAsia will require a permit first. Interestingly, last year, it also launched the ‘all-in-one’ app offering services in sectors, like shopping, travel, logistics, food delivery, financial services, and many more.

Source: Bloomberg

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