AirAsia uses AI for climb fuel savings and all its customer support
AirAsia was the first airline in Asia to use Safety Line's OptiClimb, which recommends climb speeds from historical flight data, in 2020. Its AskBo assistant replaced an earlier chatbot in 2023, and the airline now says all official customer support runs through it.
AirAsia's two documented AI applications sit at opposite ends of the operation. On the flight deck, OptiClimb gives pilots a recommended climb speed for each flight. In customer service, AskBo is now the only official channel: the airline says it does not offer support by phone.
AskBo has a history. Capital A launched it in February 2023 to replace AVA, the virtual assistant that had handled queries since 2019, after chief executive Tony Fernandes said of AVA: "We recognise she fell short of people's expectations and we want to do better."
Selected implementations
The work behind the evidence
01 / Deployed
A climb speed for every flight
The operational problem
Standard climb profiles assume average conditions. The fuel-efficient climb for a given flight depends on the individual aircraft and the weather on the day.
What the evidence reports
AirAsia said on 30 January 2020 that, after extensive validation tests, it was implementing OptiClimb across its fleet, the first airline in Asia to do so. The tool uses historical flight data and artificial intelligence to predict fuel burn under different scenarios and recommends climb speeds to pilots, taking account of each aircraft's performance and detailed 4D weather forecasts. Javed Malik, group chief operations officer, said the airline was "excited to be the very first airline to implement OptiClimb in Asia".
Operational significance
The recommendation goes to the pilots, so the saving can be measured flight by flight against recorded fuel burn.
Evidence still needed
The release presents up to 3% of climb fuel and at least 73,000 tonnes of CO2 a year as potential savings. AirAsia has not published realised savings, and the release does not say which of the group's airlines are covered.
AVA handled more than 43 million queries in 2020 alone, yet the airline itself said it fell short. Its replacement had to deal with flight changes, refunds and baggage problems end to end.
What the evidence reports
Capital A launched Ask Bo in February 2023, describing it as built on artificial intelligence and machine learning. It gives live flight status and boarding information, pushes changes on the day of travel, tracks baggage and lets guests change flights, request refunds and choose service recovery options, with live agents available from March 2023. It launched in English, Chinese, Bahasa Indonesia, Thai, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese. On 16 March 2026 AirAsia said all official customer support is provided exclusively through AskBo, in its app and digital platforms, and that it offers no phone support.
Operational significance
Making the assistant the only official channel goes further than adding a chatbot to existing support. Every complaint, refund and recovery request now starts there.
Evidence still needed
AirAsia has published no resolution, escalation or satisfaction figures for AskBo. Its March 2026 statement calls AskBo a digital support platform without describing its AI, and there is no published figure for how many cases reach a human agent.
Other records are shown separately, including non-AI technology and programmes at different stages of deployment. A register entry does not establish a measured AI benefit.
No other publicly listed records.
Editorial assessment
AirAsia's two AI records differ sharply in exposure. OptiClimb works quietly in the cockpit; AskBo is the airline's face to every passenger who needs help.
Both need results that match their reach: realised climb fuel savings for OptiClimb, and for AskBo, how many cases it closes without a person and how passengers rate it.
Live data from the Aerostack register. Status reflects published evidence only. See Our approach for how records are graded.
Aerostack register · 2 tracked deployments
Aerostack tracks AI deployments across airports and airlines, with the published evidence behind each record. Photography is real aviation imagery. Record thumbnails may show the named airport or airline; other photographs do not.
