AirAsia, a Malaysian budget airline, says it aims to initiate a flying taxi company as early as 2022.

“We are working on that right now,” CEO and co-founder Tony Fernandes said on Saturday. “I think we are about a year and a half away from launching.”

He said at the Youth Economic Forum in an online discussion.

AirAsia has been expanding in the digital world as the airline company is hit by the coronavirus pandemic. In 2020 it launched a "super app" line offering travel and shopping services to logistics and financial services.

“We took it as an opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to recast the business, relook at things,” the CEO said.

Fernandes said AirAsia expects to start e-hailing in April. He added that the flying taxis he hopes to start providing in 2022 would be equipped with up to four seats and powered by a quadcopter.

Separately on Saturday, the company announced a partnership to develop a service for urban drone delivery with a government agency called the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre.

While AirAsia is seeking additional opportunities to expand its services in new fields, he is optimistic that the roll-out of the vaccination programmes will boost air travel soon. The group offers low-cost flights, mainly in the Asia-Pacific region, linking 22 countries.

“I hope interstate travel will start in the next two to three weeks” within Malaysia, he said. He expects international borders to start opening in July or August.