AirAsia picks new CEO for superapp

AirAsia has announced that Mohamad Hafidz, currently the chief fintech officer, will become the acting CEO of the airline’s superapp, effective from April 1st. Hafidz will succeed Amanda Woo, who was appointed CEO of the superapp in May 2021, and will continue to drive the platform’s fintech vision to further increase revenue and provide more choices for its users. With almost 30 years of experience in the payments industry, Hafidz has been a strong advocate for payments innovation and security in the Asia Pacific region.

AirAsia CEO of Capital A, Tony Fernandes, announced that the airline would be killing its other operations in the superapp to focus on what he calls its bread and butter – travel. He added that AirAsia was shifting its focus to make the superapp a travel fintech superapp, now that travel has returned. The company showed strong performances in its superapp and fintech business in Q4 of last year.

The appointment of Hafidz follows the recent leadership transition announcement at AirAsia Digital, which includes the superapp and BigPay. Colin Currie will take on dual roles as AirAsia Digital’s CEO and president, commercial of Capital A. He will lead the effort to forge a closer collaboration between the superapp and BigPay to create a better user experience in travel and payment for users within the Capital A ecosystem. John Cheing, the head of investments, has been appointed as the chief financial officer for AirAsia Digital and AirAsia superapp.

Fernandes spoke about the role BigPay, Capital A’s fintech arm, would play in creating lending for travel as well as insurance. He called fintech an essential part of travel. AirAsia is excited to be launching the next phase of growth in its digital portfolios. These appointments are part of AirAsia’s efforts to strengthen its superapp and fintech business in the Asia Pacific region.