BUDGET carrier AirAsia, through its logistics venture, officially signed on Monday a partnership deal with Golden Arches Development Corp. (McDonald’s Philippines).
The deal is aimed at supporting and ensuring the fast delivery of McDonald’s products from its restaurants within the National Capital Region (NCR).
“Teleport, which is a very strong cargo business [or] entity of AirAsia, is now going to introduce this last-mile logistics service, and we’re so happy that McDonald’s is going to be part of this launch,” AirAsia Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ricky Isla told reporters during their ceremonial agreement signing held at the McDonald’s McKinley West outlet in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.
Seeing that the demand for food delivery will continue to increase this year amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the fast-food giant believes that it needs to become more convenient and connected to the customers through its online platforms.
“That’s why for us, this partnership is very relevant. It is important as it enables us to be more accessible. We would be able to tap into the network of riders of Teleport and have them to be part of our on-demand riders,” said McDonald’s Philippines CEO Kenneth Yang.
Kicking off their partnership was the send off of around 10 members of the AirAsia delivery team, some of whom were cabin crew, pilots and ground staff, at the said outlet to deliver orders of customers within Metro Manila starting in Parañaque and Pasay City.
Per their agreement, ordering, payment, and delivery tracking will be done through McDonald’s channels, including the McDelivery website and app. AirAsia’s Teleport, on its part, will guarantee the safe, hot and fresh, and on-time deliveries from the QSR’s stores right to the doorsteps of customers.
According to Isla, their tie up forms part of their company’s pivot to digital shift and opening of other businesses to create more opportunities for their people and generate jobs for those affected by the health crisis.
“We know that to our AirAsia employees, this means a lot because this is going to provide extra work. This is going to provide extra income for our employees,” he said, adding that some of their cabin crew, pilots and workers on the ground have already enlisted since the initial test run of Teleport with the delivery of fresh produce to as far as Cordillera.
“I’m very happy about the added value to the McDonald’s App delivery business [since] this partnership also enables us to assist AirAsia employees who were affected by the pandemic,” added Yang.
About 30 in-house employees or riders of AirAsia have been already trained for deployment in Metro Manila. The headcount will be increased to about 50 very soon.
“So we want to be very prepared because we know that McDonald’s is going to be very strong in terms of [operation this year], especially now that almost all industries are already waiting for the implementation, hopefully, of what we call the MGCQ [modified general community quarantine]. And we just have to be prepared for that,” Isla said.
Starting with about 14 to 15 McDonald’s Metro Manila outlets, the logistics arm of AirAsia said it is looking forward to expand its services nationwide.
“Aside from the NCR, Teleport is now present in key cities in the country, such as Bacolod, Cebu, Davao, General Santos, Iloilo, Kalibo, Puerto Princesa, Tacloban, Tagbilaran, Clark, Cagayan de Oro, and Zamboanga. We hope to partner with McDonald’s in these key cities to service more McDonald’s stores in the country,” said Teleport Country Head Ernest Bernal.
Read full article on BusinessMirror