AirAsia Sells Out Of Expedia Joint Venture

AirAsia Group has sold its remaining stake in AAE Travel, an online booking joint venture with Expedia.

The Malaysian airline group said it sold its 25 percent stake in the JV for USD$60 million, net of AirAsia’s purchase of the AirAsiaGo.com domain name and related assets from AAE Travel.

AirAsia Group chief executive Tony Fernandes said “Expedia Group has been a great partner to AirAsia and we look forward to continuing to work very closely in the future, particularly regarding regional and global distribution of AirAsia flights.”

He said the sale represents the divestment of the last of the group’s non-core investments from its previous round of joint ventures. The proceeds will be used to develop new products such as BigPay, Travel 360, Redbox Logistics and Ourshop.

Expedia said that “acquiring full ownership of AAE Travel reflects our belief in the immense potential for us in the over USD$485 billion Asian travel market. This transaction unlocks better integration of our Brand Expedia Asia business into our core global travel platform.”

The AAE Travel joint venture was formed in 2011, with AirAsia and Expedia each owning 50 percent of the company. AirAsia sold a 25 percent stake to Expedia in 2015, and today completed its divestment from the JV.