Air Asia shuts down reservations for upgrade July 09th to 11th

Low cost airline AirAsia Bhd will temporarily shutdown its current booking system for three days starting Friday 09th July to replace it with a new system that can cope with the company's current growth.
As part of the system implementation process, AirAsia's booking services will be temporarily unavailable from Friday, July 9 (1pm Malaysia time/GMT 8) to Sunday, July 11 (6pm Malaysia time). Kathleen Tan, Regional Head of Commercial, AirAsia said guests are strongly encouraged to make bookings in the next few days prior to July 9 (1pm) to avoid disappointment. She said the new system will be available starting July 11 (6pm). "The current system, which is a 20-year old system, cannot cope up with our current growth. Previously, the system can only cope as high as half a million a day. With the new system, it can book up to almost one million flights a day," she told a media briefing on Wednesday.

AirAsia will spend about RM10 million for the first year of operating the new system. Tan said the airline has been investing heavily in technology to support its expansion across its markets, largely in Asia, Australia and Europe. For this year, the company is allocating about RM80 million to RM100 million to its IT department. During the shutdown, guests would not be able to book seats online, at AirAsia sales offices and counters or through their call centre. Self check in, through the web, by mobile and at the kiosks and the facility to self-manage bookings online would also not be available for the three days. Tan said the airline would also only accept cash for purchase of any ancillary product at the check-in counters, including excess baggage fees, during this period. During the period, guests have been also advised to check in at least three hours before departure to avoid missing their flights as check-in will be done manually at the airport check-in counters.  

Tan said two to six weeks after the upgrade of the system, the airline will be launching several new destinations including Seoul, South Korea and Haneda, Japan.

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