Budget carrier AirAsia is starting its food delivery service, airasia food, in Singapore in March 2021.

AirAsia said it has obtained all the necessary approvals from the Singapore authorities to start operations.

AirAsia said it wants merchants in the beauty, fashion, fresh produce and hotel industries to register their interest to launch more products.

The food delivery service had already started operations in Malaysia in May 2020, and has since clocked 15,000 delivery orders in its first three months of operations with 500 restaurants on board.

AirAsia claimed it pivoted to doing food delivery after finding out that food delivery platforms in Malaysia were charging between 20 per cent and 35 per cent commission, which it labelled as "exorbitant commission rates".

AirAsia said airasia food runs on a zero-commission model with merchants being able to choose from flat-rate plans for payment and delivery.

Online food delivery is proving to be lucrative, as it raked in S$616 million in business in Singapore in 2020, according to research firm Statista.

Foodpanda, Deliveroo and GrabFood are the three major platforms.

They entered the Singapore market in 2012, 2015 and 2018.

New platforms, such as WhyQ, Chope On, and Pickupp have popped up.

These different platforms have provided a source of income for those who do deliveries on a freelance basis, both full-time and part-time.

Top photo via AirAsia