KUALA LUMPUR : AirAsia Group Bhd aims to have its its e-money application, Bigpay, be Shariah compliant by year-end. Group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said currently, most of the airlines’ financial transactions are conducted based on Islamic banking, and hoped Bigpay would adapt to the system soon.
“We are now at the initial stage of this and hope it can be done by year-end,” he added.
Meanwhile, to the question of whether AirAsia was interested in taking over Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB), he spoke of wanting healthy competition in the local airline industry.
“It is not good to have just one airline in the market. MAB is a premium airline, while AirAsia is low cost. Both have different target markets,” he said.
He also said it was all right to incur losses, as there is always a chance to turn profitable, with the assistance of the right management.
“When we first took over AirAsia in 2001, we were heavily in debt. Now, we are making profit. Things can change,” he added.
Fernandes had earlier launched the Malay version of his autobiography, “Terbang Tinggi”, published by Karangkraf.
