Teleport, the logistics venture of airasia digital is ramping up its delivery and digital cargo capabilities to meet significant e-commerce growth that has been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

It noted that the pandemic has encouraged consumers to trust and rely on the convenience of e-commerce, boosting the growth of the industry.

Teleport said last year, digital e-commerce sales grew tremendously by 28% globally and that this trajectory will be "further bolstered" by increased speed and highest quality cross border delivery alongside enhanced convenience and the lowest rates.

E-commerce growth expected 

The logistics arm of airasia said the trend is expected to gain further momentum as consumers continue to embrace e-commerce, which is expected to amount to over 3 billion users in Asia by 2025.

"Our logistics venture is going from strength to strength to match overwhelming demand with robust plans for expansion in the future," said Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia Group.

He noted that Teleport has also achieved an "impressive triple increase" in revenue for the first quarter of 2021 versus the fourth quarter of 2020 — "back to pre-pandemic revenue and growing faster than before."

"We now have a dedicated freighter aircraft and have converted two A320 passenger aircraft to provide cargo-only services to facilitate rapid forecast growth in ASEAN and beyond," Fernandes added, noting that the cargo team managed to pivot the freight business to expand to door-to-door deliveries at the start of the pandemic, utilizing the vast network of Air Asia in Southeast Asia.

"Teleport is leading the way with same-day deliveries and is also connecting to many of the smaller cities that are only accessible by our networks, such as the recent shipments for the United Nations World Food Program from our Kuala Lumpur hub and the delivery of medical supplies to Vientiane, Laos," the Air Asia chief continued.

24 hours delivery for logistics, e-commerce

Teleport noted that since launching door-to-door delivery services in 77 cities in five countries by the end of 2020, Teleport has successfully delivered cargo and other consumer products in under 24 hours on two-way routes between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu.

The logistics provider said the 24 hours delivery services will soon be expanding from Kuala Lumpur to Penang, Malacca, Johor, and Ipoh in Malaysia and other international and domestic routes in Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

It noted that the expansion will be supported by a rapidly growing crowdsourced fleet of over 3,720 onboarded delivery partners across the region.

"The continued growth of Teleport will be accelerated by the addition of the company’s first dedicated freighter, a  Boeing 737-800F, and by the conversion of two (2) AirAsia A320 passenger aircraft, with seats removed for increased capacity of freight and cargo delivery in Q3 2021," Teleport's statement added.

It further said that the additional capacity of these three cargo-only planes and connection with other third-party airlines, freighters, trucks, and vans will strengthen Teleport’s capabilities, not only on existing short-haul routes but also in key markets like China, India, and new markets throughout Southeast Asia, driving efficiency while also improving connectivity to and from Teleport’s medium to long-haul markets. 

” he said.