By Anna Gabriela A. Mogato,
Reporter
LOW-COST CARRIER Philippines Air Asia, Inc. is looking to capture more “digital nomads,” a term used to describe tech-savvy workers with no permanent offices, as it increases its network in Southeast Asia.
Philippines AirAsia Chief Executive Officer Dexter M. Comendador told BusinessWorld on Saturday the company’s plan to expand its network across Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member-countries will mean seamless movement for frequent travelers.
“We were trying to complete the network of ASEAN by opening up [routes to] Jakarta [and] Bali. Those are the only routes that we lacked in. The Bangkok [route], we will open next month so, we have almost completed the whole ASEAN,” he said.
Philippines AirAsia started flights from Manila to Bali and Jakarta in January, and is scheduled to begin Manila-Bangkok flights on April 22.
Through the Jakarta route, Mr. Comendador said digital nomads would be connected to the emerging start-up hubs in southern ASEAN region.
“We would like that the people working for AirAsia be able to travel around Asia and work while they’re traveling,” he said.
With its expansion plans, AirAsia expects more digital nomads, particularly from Western countries, to flock to the booming ASEAN region.
“[Hack Horizon cofounder Johannes Jaeger] said that there are a lot of digital nomads in the West that are paid a lot but they work here in Asia because it’s cheaper here,” Mr. Comendador said. “So we have to set up the infrastructure to allow them to be able to work here so that ASEAN can also profit from it.”
AirAsia also looks to capitalize on the “work from anywhere” trend.
“ASEAN [in a sense] has become smaller now so they [digital nomads] move around ASEAN, working [and] producing good outputs while they go around [because] there’s no more office,” Mr. Comendador said.
On Saturday, Philippines AirAsia held the Red Hub convention, which aims to create a community for digital nomads.
In a presentation, AirAsia Regional Chief Operations Officer Pete Chareongwongsak said the future of work driven by technology would mean more connected, more productive, and more collaborative internal organizations.
With less barriers, Mr. Chareongwongsak said this would lead to a change in demands from airline customers to suit their mobile lifestyle.
