When ManFredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio was nominated on January 14 as the chairman of AIRASIA Move, Capital A’s online travel platform, the industry watcher took notes. Lefebvre has a decades of leading giants on luxurious travel giants such as abercrombie & Kent and Crystal Cruises.
It shows the ambitions of improving user experience, expanding the market, and in some cases, challenge cruises. “I am both at the learning stage and the contribution stage about what the possibility of AirAsia’s movement is,” Lefeble told Skift in an exclusive interview.
Lefebvre, the most well -known chairman of SilverSea Cruises, sold two -thirds of the company to Royal Calibian Cruise for $ 1 billion in 2018. He is now seeing the possibility of integrating cruises into AIRASIA MOVE products. “Cruising is a very rapid product,” he said.
This also matches the vision of the movement of AirAsia, which grows beyond the roots of Southeast Asia.
Bridge of luxury and accessibility
Skift featured Lefebvre on the first power ranking list of last year. In 1986, Sitmar Cruises began nearly 40 years of career, evolving to the creation and final sales of SilverSea Cruises, redefined a gorgeous trip. As an executive chairman of Abercrombie & Kent, his focus was in a luxurious travel experience for high -end travelers around the world.
How does that experience conform to AIRASIA MOVE, a superapp that focuses on affordable prices and accessibility? “Luxury doesn’t always mean exclusive,” Lefeble explained. In the case of a super -app designed for mass hiring, luxury must focus on relieving comfort, seamless experience, and eliminating the hiccups of travel.
This is the philosophy of his vision for the platform. A one -stop platform that offers flights, hotels, transportation, duty -free shopping, curation experience. And at the heart of it is quality and innovation.
Will AirAsia move across Asia?
Lefebvre’s experience has mainly experienced Western consumers in Europe, and his new roles show his entry into the dynamic travel market in Asia.
“I have always concentrated on learning how to move outside this small world, which is a great world with many expenditures and opportunities, but the western world. is.”
He believes that AirAsia’s movements apply to his expertise and provide an opportunity in his words to contribute to something “not mine, but I think it’s interesting.”
He acknowledges that he needs to learn more about local travel behavior, and Lefeble said his global experience would help him to identify the similarity of Asian and Western travelers. “Asian travelers are evolving rapidly,” he pointed out, and as wealth grows, their desires, like people in other regions in the world, are added to their ownership to experience. I did it.
SuperApp predicts these wishes and aims to provide customized solutions for both local travelers and international travelers.
And this platform is currently focusing on traveling in Southeast Asia, but Lefeble’s vision is a future vision for travelers around the world. “Today, it is provided to Southeast Asian travelers. Maybe tomorrow we can expand our knowledge, experience and abilities overseas,” he said.
Technology and personalization
Technology is not just a tool. It’s a backbone of what works, and Lefeble understands it.
“I am trying to understand how technology can help consumers and how to find an AirAsian partner. To help consumers make better profits.”
Lefebvre aims to improve the function of the app in cooperation with AIRASIA MOVE CEO Nadia Omer. He said that it focuses on making travel plan intuition and fun, from logistics to user interfaces.
Imagine a flight reservation, a transport arrangement, a tax -exempt product selection, and a restaurant reservation from one app. This is the convenience that the app is aiming for.
This level of convenience and personalization believe that AirAsia will move away in the competitive super app market. In order to provide “more”, there are not only services but also the depth and personalization of each interaction.
“We are focusing on providing as much as possible through the app to get rid of the curve,” he said. “It’s the amount and diversity of services that you (users) can access.”
If you talk to Skift earlier, CEO OMER states: “We are trying to position yourself as a competitive online travel agency (OTA). This provides more value to customers and airline partners from the usual OTA. Masu.”
Work on excessive things
Pandemic has changed worldwide trips, but Southeast Asia has experienced a robust recovery driven by both local exploration and inbound sightseeing. Lefebvre believes that spreading tourists activities to destinations with few seasons and visits are the key to sustainable growth.
He claims that expanding travel to new destinations and adjusting the seasonality will not only help the local economy, but also reduce the tension of popular hotspots. “The number of travelers is expanded, and the more you spread throughout the season and destination, the more wealth.”
