Airasia SuperApp has denied a claim by Batik Air that it has acted in an “unauthorised manner” by selling the airline’s and Super Air Jet’s flights on its online travel agency (OTA) platform.
In a statement, airasia SuperApp said its OTA platform holds a travel agent licence and is also accredited by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as an authorised agent to sell flights from any airline on its app and website.
The app said that as an accredited OTA, its flight inventories come from established partner aggregators and direct airline partners, a common OTA industry practice.
“As any accredited OTA in the market, we will continue to sell flights from any airline, including those we do not have direct relationships with, through our established partner aggregators and consolidators,” said acting CEO of airasia SuperApp Hafidz Fadzil.
Yesterday, the Edge reported that Batik Air demanded airasia SuperApp to immediately remove and delete all the airline’s products and services on the platform, saying it has never consented to place them on the app.
The airline claimed that the app had acted in an “unauthorised manner” by selling the airline’s and Super Air Jet’s flights on its platform.
“We wish to notify the public that Batik Air Malaysia, and all the airlines within the Lion Air Group, namely Lion Air, Batik Air Indonesia, Wing’s Air, and Super Air Jet, have not given any consent for airasia SuperApp to include their services on its OTA platform,” it was quoted as saying.
Batik Air also threatened “legal redress” if airasia SuperApp failed to comply.
Malaysia Aviation Group Bhd managing director Izham Ismail said it had filed an injunction to stop the low-cost carrier from selling Malaysia Airlines tickets on the app.
Izham said the group had not reached a commercial agreement before this, yet airasia SuperApp “continued to sell our inventory”.
In response, Hafidz today said the Malaysia Airlines flight tickets displayed on the app were taken from inventories supplied by their established partner aggregators.
“The flight fares and fare class (economy or business) information is supplied directly by our partner aggregators without any intervention from airasia SuperApp. The same fare information was also displayed on other OTA platforms,” he said.
He added that the legal action Malaysia Airlines has taken against them is premised on allegations of potential trademark infringement and passing off, and unrelated to the supply of inventory.
Airasia SuperApp said it continues to call on Malaysia Airlines and other airlines to partner directly with it for better efficiency and performance, towards offering Malaysians the best value for travel.