Tony Fernandes CEO Blog

Lotus returns to F1 and a rebirth at Cosworth. Just to share some videos and pics during this time off before heading to Jerez on Wednesday. An extremely proud moment for Malaysia and it's a sign of things to come.

A prosperous year ahead and it's going to be a rocking start to a great lunar year to boot. Happy Valentine's Day and signing off with love.

I put on a secondary school pinafore for our eighth annual dinner last week. It’s not that I like being in drag— although I hear it’s become a sort of past time for certain wacky CEOs – but we had a Back to School theme for which I had a colleague to help sort out a costume. She thought it’d be a riot. I thought I looked ridiculous. What can I say? I am too obliging.

It was the usual awesome acts, awesome food, awesome music and even more awesome lucky draw prizes. Every year at our annual party I am awed by how fast and how big AirAsia has grown. We had over 3,000 staff at the bash this year. I’ve lost count. I saw tons of new faces; young, bright and enthusiastic, asking me to join them for a Kodak moment. It was dizzying but always a wonderful feeling to know that more are sharing the AirAsia dream with such passion.

One particular moment really moved me to tears. I’m not one to cry easily. I’ve only shed tears, perhaps four times in my adult life – at both my parents’ funerals and when my two kids were born.

When we opened for business in 2001 we only had two aircraft. People were writing our obituary before we could even take off. Today we have 90 planes (and growing) and we’re crossing continents. ‘Tis a great feeling, confounding skeptics. So you can imagine how emotional it was for me when my staff put on a slide show of photos from the past eight years with Gloria Estefan’s Reach playing in the background. I couldn’t help but sniffle and choke a little. Trust the team at the culture department to tug at the heart strings.

I may be the face of AirAsia but in truth we couldn’t have become the world’s best without our incredible team of people. We’ve built a family of Allstars (that’s what we call our people) and a culture of great service, fun, passion, openness and integrity.

This coming year will be another challenging one. Sounds familiar, yes but it just wouldn’t be an airline business if it were smooth and easy. We’ll be adding more routes to the network and we’ll be focusing a lot more on people development and training because it is our people that will determine our future success.

Watching our Allstars rock the dance floor that night, I wondered what gave this lot their spirit. I realised that at AirAsia they feel liberated and empowered, something few companies in the world can offer.

From the beginning I’ve always wanted to make AirAsia a special place to be. Work needn’t be a drag or a chore and I think we’ve accomplished that to a large extent even though things aren’t always perfect. I’m quite sure our people are some of the most dedicated you will ever find. How else could we have won four awards this year alone? – CAPA’s Airline of the Year, TTG Travel’s Best Asian LCC, Skytrax’s Best Low Cost Airline and Brand of the Year at Media’s Agency of the Year Awards ceremony.

Well done Allstars! You make me proud to be part of such an amazing team.

Anita Gabriel, the Star reporter sent me this recently and just thought it would be nice to put up a new post. This interview happened a while back in 2007 with my good friend, Sir Richard Branson but the key message is here to stay today and we are realising everything in every way. Will we do a Virgin Atlantic? We're on our way.

Video links for the interview with Branson as follows:-

Check back next week as I unveil the winners for the challenge of naming the route. Being home is definitely exciting.

In New York city for the entire day. And meeting media and building the brand is part of the agenda. Have attached some of the interviews that I do abroad and it touches on many issues which includes important topics such as how do we build a worldwide brand. Recently, I had tea with The Economist and thought it might be something that you would like to see.

Here's another that I ran through with Mike Gascoyne and BBC on the Lotus F1 dream. We need to be at the forefront and be ambassadors of our brand and be passionate about our involvement. The link for BBC is as follows:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8362515.stm

The essence of brand building is that we must first embrace what the brand means and what it should symbolise to the world. Armed with that, we go out with conviction and we preach that far and wide with all the latest technology and with the most effect we can.

Hope you enjoy these videos and fully embrace the value of integrating mass media with your brand. Be passionate about your brand and be all you can be. Will check back soon from New York. Have a good day all.

It was back in September when I launched a competition on my personal Twitter and Facebook page. Simply tell me where and what route you would like AirAsia to fly to and you win free flights for a year. The response was overwhelming.

I know it’s been a long time coming and most of you are probably wondering when the winner of the competition will be announced if at all. Today, I’m going to announce a date. 8 December 2009 to be exact. On that Tuesday, I’m going to call some of my media friends to come along as I unveil the winners to the world. Have been tinkering with technology a bit lately and we’re going to try to experiment with Cover It Live at the event itself. So mark your calendars as I unveil the winners of the first competition on Facebook and Twitter to a year of free flights.

All I’m going to say is that one of the winners chose an Asian destination that we’ve been eyeing for a while now. Will see you on 8 December 2009. It’s all happening live. Let the drums roll.

Well, it’s been five weeks into the season and the hoopla seems to be catching.

I’m talking, of course, about the ASEAN Basketball League (full disclosure: I’m chairman of the ABL). It has taken us just over a year to get the ABL started. It was tough going at times, but we persevered and it was great to see the first regional sports league in ASEAN tip off in Jakarta. Five weeks into the season, and it’s great to see the response from fans.

I’ve always felt that it’s not enough for us here in ASEAN to merely follow the fortunes of sports teams from elsewhere – be it in football, basketball, F1. We need to create our own teams, cheer our own heroes, celebrate when we win, curse when we lose and given the diversity in ASEAN, we can do both in a variety of languages and customs!

It’s also about nurturing talent and providing opportunities for our people to compete against the best in the region – and eventually, the world.

All the team owners are dedicated to developing the game in their respective countries. We want to show the young, the talented and the committed that you can create a future for yourself playing the sport that you love.

The six teams involved – from the Barracudas from Brunei, KL Dragons from Malaysia, Satria Muda from Jakarta, The Philippine Patriots from Manila, the Singapore Slingers and the Thailand Tigers – have been putting on quite a show.

The fans are turning out in growing numbers at the stadiums where the games are played. There were 1,000 people loudly cheering at a game recently between the Singapore Slingers and the Philippine Patriots. And why not? It’s affordable family entertainment. The action is fast and furious with teams consisting of locals and a limited number of imports playing with passion.

The ABL games are also broadcast live on ESPN on weekday nights and late afternoon on Saturday. You must have caught some of them while channel surfing at home. If you haven’t, tune in some time. Better yet, come on down to the stadiums and catch a game live. Who knows? You may one day be able to say that you watched a future Michael Jordan in action!

Head on over to aseanbasketballleague.com for more details. Hope to see you at a game soon!

Last night was definitely a night to remember. AirAsia and AirAsia X's joint win as Airline of the Year at the CAPA awards marks another major milestone in our journey. After just eight years, to come out ahead of established airlines like Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific not just means so much to us but also demonstrates that Malaysian companies can compete with and triumph over so-called "heavyweights" on the global stage.

The award is recognition of the hard work, passion, creativity and innovation that our 7,000 AirAsians bring to their jobs every day. Without them, we will not be where we are as an airline, let alone be winning the highest awards granted by the industry. To them, and to the millions of guests who fly us daily, I say a very big Thank You.

Our journey began with just two planes, one destination, and 250 staff. The first year, we carried 250,000 guests. Now,our fleet consists of 85 largely brand new Airbus aircraft (A320s for AirAsia, A330s for AirAsia X). We expect to ferry 24 million guests this year (and more than 75 million in the eight years we have been in operation); and we fly to more than 60 destinations.

We are humbled by this award and here's our pledge: That this recognition will spur us to improve our services, lower our fares even more and provide our guests with the high-quality they expect from us. We are determined to continue to demonstrate that "low cost" does not equate to "low quality."

One other thing: I would like to think that AirAsia as a whole has made an impact not just in the aviation industry but in other fields as well. Our people and our positive energy what I call our "Two P's" is what has brought us to where we are today. We hope that this will rub off on Malaysians as well. As a society, we tend to be very negative and critical. Imagine how much more we can achieve as a nation if, instead of constantly complaining, we channel our talent and potential into realising our goals and making our dreams come true.

As we say in AirAsia;
Dream the impossible,
Believe the unbelievable,
And never take no for an answer.

Last night, this old man was very very happy. Thank you for sharing our joy and for supporting us.

Had the opportunity to be part of the live chat series run by The Star yesterday. It was great to be able to share the aspirations of the 1 Malaysia Formula 1 team with the nation. Just the ability of being able to engage the nation in a live forum and to hopefully inspire us to reach greater heights together was sensational. Have attached the clips for those who missed the conversation.

Check here for details on the livechat.

Am thinking of having this weekly live chat sessions right here on the blog. Will work on something and get it live next week. Watch this space.

Since back in 2001 when we took over the management of the airline, AirAsia has always set the bar high. "Dream the impossible, Believe the Unbelievable, Never Take No for an Answer" is that belief, our credo that inspires us and its a credo we live up to in every endeavour we are involved in.

Today we are proud of two young Malaysians who demonstrated the credo in action and in doing so, did Malaysia proud and cosigned the skeptics and naysayers to the margins.

Right here in Sepang, Elly Idzlianizar Ilias and Mohd Zulfahmi Khairuddin of the AirAsia Team Malaysia made their maiden foray into the world of the 125cc MotoGP category. They entered as wild cards, but came in 16th (Elly) and 20th (Fahmi) in a field of 32 participants. An incredible feat that showed the world and pessimistic Malaysians just what Malaysia can do when we put pour hearts and minds to it.

AirAsia is extremely proud to be associated with these young Malaysians and to have sponsored the team. And they have more than justified our faith. Malaysia has so much untapped potential that we can tap into and unleash if only we believe in ourselves. We have the talent, the technical competency and the mindset to compete, all we need is the opportunity. Just give Malaysians a chance, a real chance, and we can take on the best in the world.

In regards to sports, my business partners and I have taken up the challenge with our involvement in setting up the 1Malaysia F1 team that will be on the starting blocks of the grid next year. Today, in the MotoGP, Elly and Fahmi planted the Malaysian flag in their field despite entering as wild cards and competing against the established stars. They were in contention for much of the race and only narrowly missed out on World Championship points. The message is clear and loud; we are here and ready to compete. And it's not too far fetched for us to consider fielding a team in the MotoGP circuit next season.

I say let's start showing the world that on any given platform and on any given day, we are equal to the world's best. I confess I am an incorrigible optimist and this may seem as just typical Tony. But our boys showed today what Malaysia can do and I say it is time to rise to the challenge and stand tall.

We'll be there with team Lotus on the Grand Prix circuit next year. Hope to see you there, cheering a Malaysian team, wearing the Malaysian team colours as yet another "impossible" dream becomes a reality.

Here's a letter which makes it all worthwhile. These were the ideals that started AirAsia and fired us with passion.

Dear Mr. Fernandes,

I would like to thank you and your airline for the wonderful service in evacuating us from Padang on Thursday October 1st, 2009. Myself and 30 others had been abandoned by Tiger Airways in an airport with toilets with no water (toilets choked and putrid), no air conditioning in the heat and humidity and the main ceiling of the airport which had collapsed.While the cowards at Tiger Airways left us behind, your airline, got us to safety, which we and our loved ones are all very thankful and happy about.What made this even more challenging, was that all ATM's, credit card facilities and money changing services were closed or not functioning.

We pooled our Rupiah to buy tickets on Air Asia, of which a couple of tourists got left behind to wait two nights at the Padang airport until Tiger airways finally returns (we hope for their sake). As i was on a business trip to Padang, I had additional rupiah to purchase two German tourists tickets on Air Asia to KL.Upon arriving in KL, we purchased Air Asia tickets with our credit cards to get back home to Singapore (the German tourist got their connecting flights in Singapore and were very relieved)I have written to the press in Australia and Singapore applauding your wonderful service, and i hope some good PR comes of this, as your Airline well deserves it.

Once again, thank you and thank you Air Asia.

We just do what we have to do to help people. We have many who constantly barrage us with attacks and put us down. But when you get a letter like this, it makes it all worth it. This operation to ferry loved ones in and those requiring help out is an ASEAN project. This is what ASEAN is all about, an airline run by ASEAN staff reaching out to an ASEAN community that is in need of help. The ideals that communities can unite beyond language and cultural differences and be globally responsible citizens are what drives ASEAN. This is evidence of how ASEAN can be so powerful in making a difference in all communities that we need to reach out to if we all work together.

Have been getting a lot of reactions on the net and by people on the street on the nation's involvement in the motorsports world of Formula One. Next week, I am looking forward to share my thoughts on why Formula One is important to Malaysia.

Well done to all my 8000 ASEAN staff. You have made an old man very proud. Keep being an All Star in your roles and in the lives of people you touch.