Expedia Group has purchased the 25 per cent equity interest in AAE Travel held by AirAsia, the joint venture formed by the two firms in March 2011.
The cash consideration is $60 million, net of AirAsia’s concurrent purchase of AirAsiaGo.com domain names and related assets from AAE Travel.
AirAsiaGo.com, which offers a full suite of travel products including AirAsia flight and hotel packages featuring Expedia Group lodging content, will continue to be powered by Expedia Group.
“AirAsia has been a fantastic partner for the past seven years, helping to establish Brand Expedia as a strong and increasingly locally relevant player in the Asia region,” said Mark Okerstrom, president, Expedia Group.
“Acquiring full ownership of AAE Travel reflects our belief in the immense potential for us in the over $485 billion Asian travel market.
“This transaction unlocks better integration of our Brand Expedia Asia business into our core global travel platform, giving us even greater confidence in our ability to harness the huge growth potential that Asia represents.”
Expedia Group has held 75 per cent equity in the venture since 2015.
“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,” said Tony Fernandes, group chief executive of AirAsia.
“This sale represents the divestment of the last of our non-core investments from the previous round of joint ventures.
“These proceeds will be used to develop big unicorn products such as BigPay, Travel 360, Redbox Logistics and Ourshop.
“This first set of joint ventures has taught us a tremendous amount and shareholders who have seen huge returns from our first round of partnerships haven’t seen anything yet.”
AirAsia is considered the World’s Leading Low-cost Airline by the World Travel Awards.