Capital A introduces new leadership, Colin Currie now CEO of AirAsia digital

Capital A, parent company of AirAsia, has introduced new leadership to spearhead its digital business growth. Double hatting the roles of president of Capital A’s Commercial wing as well as CEO of AirAsia Digital, is Colin Currie (pictured). Curie first joined in 2021 leaving his role as APAC MD of Adidas. He was appointed chief commercial officer to develop a consumer-centric strategy using data to optimise growth and meet the financial objectives across AirAsia’s airlines and digital units. 

Currie comes with extensive experience where in his prior role, he wasresponsible for making adidas one of the hottest consumer brands in the region, growing the company’s revenue fivefold in Greater China and narrowing the market share gap from fourth to head to head market leadership. He was also credited for improving the brand’s operating model and leading the regional market to record-breaking growth.

Additionally, the company’s head of investments, John Cheing has been appointed as chief financial officer for AirAsia Digital and AirAsia SuperApp. Chieng commenced his duties on 1 March 2023.

Capital A’s decision to expand on its digital business comes off of its promising fourth quarter results last year in both its SuperApp and fintech business. It posted a quarterly revenue of RM2.4 billion, up 188% Year-on-Year  and 21% Quarter-on-Quarter. In the fourth quarter results, the Group also recorded its third consecutive quarter of positive Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) at RM489 million. 

CEO of Capital A, Tony Fernandes said that he has full confidence in Currie to carry the aforementioned dual roles considering his past experience as managing director at adidas Group for over 16 years. Additionally, Fernandes also stated that Chieng’s experience as head of investments will bolster his role as chief financial officer moving forward. Both Currie and Chieng will be working closely with Fernandes to scale up Capital A’s business portfolio.

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Currie shared his excitement to guide AirAsia digital in its pursuit of creating an ecosystem of businesses that bring customers quality travel, financial and lifestyle services. “We believe that our digital journey has much more room for growth as we aim to become one of the leading travel SuperApps within ASEAN and beyond,” he added.

Earlier this year, AirAsia announced its plans to launch its e-hailing service called ‘airasia ride’ in Singapore this June. , Tony Fernandes, made the announcement at a press conference during the airasia SuperApp rider and driver appreciation held in Kuala Lampur on 12 January. He also said that Capital A is still working towards obtaining a license to operate in Singapore, hoping to secure it by the end of this quarter. He pointed out that as of now, there are approximately 400 full-time drivers with airasia ride.

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