AirAsia travel pass boosts trade in Davao

By Cheneen R. Capon
AIRASIA Philippines’ Asean Pass will help boost trade and commerce in Davao City, the airline’s top executive said.
“This is very important for Davao because Davao is more of a trade and commerce destination than a leisure destination,” AirAsia Philippines president and CEO Atty. Josephine Joy D. Cañeba said.
Cañeba said the Asean Pass will open Davao to the Philippines and to the rest of the Asean member-countries/
“This is very important for Davao because Davao is more of a trade and commerce destination that a leisure destination,” said Cañeba, who was in Davao recently when AirAsia re-launched the Davao-Manila route with a frequency of three-times daily.
She described the Asean Pass as similar to the train ticket issued to customers in Europe. The ticket allows the user to travel from one country to another using one single ticket.
The AirAsia ASEAN Pass “is a travel pass that allows passengers to book fares by purchasing credits in advance and travel at a fixed rate and on over 140 routes across all 10 Asean countries: Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines.”
The AirAsia Asean Pass is a way to promote Asean Integration, bridge communities and to attract more foreign tourists among Asean nations, according to Cañeba.
“It allows more people to travel through the Asean. It opens Philippines to tourists and opens Asean to Filipino,” Cañeba said during the recent Kapihan sa Abreeza.
AirAsia considers travelling important because of the learning and exposure a traveler can get from visiting not just tourist destinations, but the culture each Asean country has.
The Asean Pass will also allow more young people who do not have high purchasing power to travel and experience Asean more, Cañeba explained.
“Wth this Asean pass, definitely, they’ll get more excited to cross that outbucket list,” she said.
Guests availing the AirAsia Pass are given a choice to purchase 10 or 20 credits and use the credits to redeem (purchase) flights within Asean countries.
Cañeba said with this pass, the budget carrier which has base operation in Malaysia could be the airline of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines- East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) in the future.
“I really hope that we will be the BIMP-EAGA airline…as you know AirAsia have operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Philippines,” she said.