KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 12): AirAsia Group Bhd group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said on Tuesday (Oct 12) that the budget airline's digital businesses which have a valuation of over US$1 billion (about RM4.17 billion) have achieved the unicorn status in record time at under two years since the group accelerated the growth momentum of its non-airline businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic-driven aviation sector downturn.

In a statement, Fernandes said AirAsia Group should no longer be known as just an airline.

"We are now a digital services group. Mark my words: We are going to be a major player in the ASEAN digital economy.

"Our competitors are already taking notice and the best is yet to come, with new innovations and partnerships to be announced soon that will really shake up the industry, the way we revolutionised the ASEAN airline industry 20 years ago," he said.

In start-up-funding terminology, the term "unicorn" refers to a private company which has achieved a valuation of US$1 billion.

According to AirAsia Group's corporate structure, the group's digital businesses are undertaken via 100%-owned subsidiary AirAsia Digital Sdn Bhd.

AirAsia Digital's directly owned subsidiaries comprise 100%-owned AirAsia Data Sdn Bhd and AirAsia Superapp Sdn Bhd besides 99.56%-owned Big Pay Pte Ltd and 82.17%-owned Teleport Everywhere Pte Ltd.

AirAsia Group's statement on Tuesday is in response to an Oct 5, 2021 Credit Suisse report which highlighted AirAsia Digital as one of three ASEAN unicorns based in Malaysia, alongside Carsome Sdn Bhd and Axiata Group Bhd's 63%-owned subsidiary edotco.

In the AirAsia Group statement, the company said the Credit Suisse report highlighted how the digital economy benefitted from structural and behavioural changes due to Covid-19 which accelerated the pace of digitalisation.

Fernandes said: "This sends a strong message to the industry that our (AirAsia Group) strategy to become more than just an airline in the digital era is not only on the right track, but allows AirAsia to make a name for itself as a key player in the e-commerce and delivery space in ASEAN."

At Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday, AirAsia Group's share price slipped three sen or 2.34% at 2.42pm to RM1.25, valuing the group at about RM4.76 billion.

AirAsia Group, which has 3.81 billion issued shares, saw its securities transacted at between RM1.22 and RM1.30 so far.