AirAsia India customers to get support services through WhatsApp

AirAsia India customers will now be able get support services through WhatsApp following the budget carrier making available its virtual assistant, AirAsia Virtual Allstar (AVA) on the Facebook-run messaging platform, a release said on Tuesday.

AVA, which is a chatbot, already handles millions of cases annually across other platforms such as Facebook and the airline's web portal as well as its mobile app, it said.

AirAsia India is the first domestic airline to offer customer support through WhatsApp in the country, the release said.

India is the biggest market for WhatsApp globally, with over 400 million active users across the country. For 96 percent of smartphone users in India, WhatsApp is the primary messaging platform for daily communication, AirAsia India said.

“As a progressive, digitally-led organisation, AVA offers a high standard of customer service powered by artificial intelligence. With AVA's availability on WhatsApp, we are taking another step towards delivering happiness to our guests, helping them reach us at the click of a button in the most convenient way possible,"Ankur Garg, Chief Commercial Officer at AirAsia India, said at the launch of the facility.

Earlier this month, WhatsApp had  said it has over 50 million users of its business app globally, of which more than 15 million are in India.

AVA answers queries from customers instantly in 11 languages, including English, Hindi, Bahasa Malaysia, Thai, Bahasa Indonesia, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, among others, as per the release.