AirAsia permanently breaks up with Traveloka

AirAsia has permanently withdrawn all of its flights from online travel agent Traveloka after AirAsia’s Indonesia flights disappeared on the platform for the second time in two weeks, according to the company statement.

The withdrawal covers all flight routes across the AirAsia network. AirAsia flights first disappeared from Traveloka on 14-17 February, coinciding with AirAsia’s network-wide system upgrade on 16 February.

Traveloka had cited the 13-hour system downtime as the reason for AirAsia flights disappearing from their website in response to queries from customers.

However, AirAsia flights disappeared from Traveloka for a second time on 2 March without clarification, well after the successful system upgrade by AirAsia.

Dendy Kurniawan, AirAsia Indonesia president director, said: “The omission of our flights has certainly hurt cooperation between AirAsia and Traveloka. Traveloka has not acted in good faith. They have refused to provide an official explanation despite our repeated attempts to seek their clarification.

“The exclusion of several AirAsia Indonesia flights by Traveloka is a clear display of preferential treatment and an act of favouritism. We observed through social media messages how customers who enquired about the unavailability of AirAsia flights were recommended by Traveloka to book with other airlines instead. Therefore, in solidarity, AirAsia Group withdraws sales of all of its flights from Traveloka effective immediately.”

Travellers who wish to purchase AirAsia flights are advised to book directly from the airasia.com website or the AirAsia mobile app.

“Our airasia.com website and mobile app are a better alternative where travellers can book flights at the lowest fares directly from us and enjoy discounted hotel promotions,” Kurniawan added.

According to a report, Traveloka regretted the decision made by AirAsia to withdraw sales from the platform. The Indonesian unicorn also reached out to AirAsia to open a dialogue that will provide the best solutions for all relevant parties”.