KUALA LUMPUR, 20 November 2021 - In an industry first, Tune Protect and AirAsia today launched the Covid Travel Pass as an added convenience for air travellers to meet the mandatory insurance coverage set by the governments for fully vaccinated international travellers flying into the countries. Kicking off with Langkawi, Malaysia and various tourist destinations in Thailand, the service will be expanded to include other countries and destinations in due course.
Currently, travellers flying AirAsia into Langkawi, Malaysia and destinations in Thailand can subscribe to the Covid Travel Pass when booking their flight tickets on the AirAsia superapp, post flight purchase subscription options are also available before travellers depart.
The introduction of the Covid Travel Pass plans is timely as they also meet the year-end travel needs of AirAsia’s guests who wish to head to their much-awaited holidays and the impending opening of regional and international borders.
The Covid Travel Pass plans are complete with enhanced COVID-19 coverage to satisfy the Malaysian government’s requirement for international travellers coming into Langkawi to have mandatory insurance coverage of USD80,000 while for Thailand, the required mandatory coverage is USD50,000.
“As Malaysia and Thailand open their international borders, AirAsia is prepared to meet the rise in the pent-up travel demand especially towards the end of year as a peak travel period. Travelling today comes with a new set of protocols and we want to reassure our guests that we are ready to welcome them with the right travel protection products provided by Tune Protect while observing strict and disciplined protocols to ensure the safety of our passengers in flight and beyond so that they can have a total peace of mind,” said Bo Lingam, Group CEO of AirAsia Aviation Limited.
AirAsia has spent the period of downtime in travel over the past one-and-a-half years to further improve and revamp its flight procedures and processes. In the highest interest of safety and wellbeing of all its guests and employees, AirAsia will accept only fully vaccinated guests on board its flights, and likewise ensure only fully-vaccinated employees will operate flights and be on-duty at airport terminals.
Despite mostly not flying for a good part of the past 18 months, all AirAsia’s aircraft are properly maintained according to procedures set by the manufacturer. AirAsia has set up an in-house maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) unit called Asia Digital Engineering that provides services not only to AirAsia but also other airlines. Likewise, all its pilots and cabin crew are regularly sent for mandatory refresher courses and ongoing retraining so that they are always on top of their job.
“We are excited for our customers and AirAsia guests as they take their much-needed vacation time. The Covid Travel Pass satisfies the requirements in both countries to ensure customers are better prepared and protected during their holidays and have a worry-free vacation. Guests can purchase the Covid Travel Pass when booking their AirAsia flights on the flight booking platform of the airasia Super App, making it super convenient and hassle-free,” said Rohit Nambiar, Group Chief Executive Officer of Tune Protect.
For AirAsia’s international guests flying into Langkawi, Malaysia, the Covid Travel Pass provides a coverage of up to RM350,000 in medical expenses and hospitalization due to accident and sickness including a COVID-19 infection, as well as a quarantine allowance of RM150 per day. Premiums start from as low as RM170 per guest per trip.
For travellers flying with AirAsia into Thailand, the Covid Travel Pass provides medical expenses due to accidents and sickness due to COVID-19 of up to THB1.8 million.
The Covid Travel Pass is available via the airasia Super App and will soon be made available to other customers via the Tune Protect’s website. Travellers who have purchased AirAsia flights prior to 1 November 2021 will be notified via push notifications to add on the required insurance coverage with the relevant post flight purchase options.
Other existing benefits from the Covid Travel Pass include personal accident, travel inconvenience such as trip curtailment, flight delay, loss, or damage to checked baggage, baggage delay on arrival; ground inconvenience benefit due to snatch theft, emergency medical evacuation and 24-hours travel assistance services.
Earlier in February, Tune Protect had also enhanced the Tune Protect AirAsia Travel Protection for travellers from Malaysia entering Singapore which included RM100,000 medical and hospitalisation expenses coverage due to COVID-19, meeting the mandatory insurance requirement of the Singapore government for coverage of SGD30,000.
For more information about Tune Protect Covid Travel Pass, please visit the official website at https://www.tuneprotect.com/airasia (commencing 19 November 2021).
