AirAsia enhances AI-powered AVA chatbot four years after debut

8 February 2023

Capital A Bhd, the parent company of low-cost carrier AirAsia Aviation Group Ltd, has enhanced the artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities of its AI-powered AVA chatbot, which has been the first port of call for customers’ queries and complaints since 2019.

AirAsia enhances AI-powered AVA chatbot four years after debut

Renamed “Ask Bo”, the enhanced chatbot now includes new features such as live updates on flight status (delays, departures) and/or changes and boarding information, and available in more languages including English, Chinese, Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Indonesia, Thai, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese.

By March, AirAsia customers will also be able to talk live to its human agents, during the Ask Bo interaction. “We will continue to innovate to ensure the highest standards of customer care in all that we do to best meet our guests’ requirements,” AirAsia chief airport and customer experience officer Kesavan Sivanandam said.

Capital A chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said the new chatbot is the airline’s commitment to provide better customer experience, as part of its vision to become the most communicative, responsive and answerable brand in the region.

“Our guests have spoken, and we are listening and learning. We felt their frustration towards our first AI chatbot, AVA, which was always a work in progress. We recognise she fell short of people’s expectations and we want to do better.

“Today we are happy to introduce Ask Bo, named after AirAsia airline group CEO Bo Lingam. He has been at my side for the past 21 years and is the go-to person with all [the] answers to our group’s airline questions,” Fernandes told reporters at the launch of the new chatbot on Wednesday (Feb 8).

He noted that AVA has handled more than 113 million guests since 2019, and over 43 million queries in 2020 alone at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, Ask Bo will also be able to send push notifications on any last minute changes on the day of operations, and give baggage information (tracking, arrival belt, mishandled baggage reports) and report real-time automatic updates of departure timings into the electronic boarding pass.

“Our guests will have more autonomy — they will be able to change flights, request refunds, choose service recovery options. We will continue to innovate to ensure the highest standards of customer care in all that we do to best meet our guests’ requirements,” said Kesavan.

AirAsia topped passenger complaints from January to June last year, according to data published by the Malaysian Aviation Commission.

A total of 527 complaints (42.1%) were made against the budget airline, followed by 40.7% against Malaysia Airlines. Meanwhile, Batik Air, formerly known as Malindo Air, received 99 complaints or 7.9%.

At 3.30pm, Capital A shares were traded down 1.5 sen or 2.07% at 71 sen, translating into a market capitalisation of RM2.94 billion.

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