Tony Fernandes CEO Blog

Recently, some good friends of mine and fans of AirAsia have alerted me on the resurfacing of the email with subject title “AirAsia Compromise on Safety and Regulations”. This email has been on circulation for sometime despite an article on our Travel 360 magazine and abundance of article in the web on 25 minutes turn-around time.
Interestingly, a representative from the Ministry of Transport (MOT) also raised a reply upon receipt of the said email of which I’m in copy. I would like to share the reply here with all of you:

“Dear Friend,

All Malaysian airlines including AirAsia are subjected to the safety regulations/standards set by the Department of Civil Aviation, Malaysia. In fact these standards are higher than that set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). ICAO is made up 190 countries and we are one of them. All planes are also subjected to scheduled checks by the DCA to ascertain whether they are airworthy, if they are not, than I am afraid to say that they will not be allowed to fly.

The ICAO also does annual checks on safety standards of all the airlines of its member countries including Malaysia. Only recently, the ICAO did their safety audit on Malaysia and the results were thumbs -up.

Countries like UK and Australia will not accept Airasia if it is not up to the safety standards. UK has ban many airlines such from Indonesia and the Philippines. Australia has recently banned Tiger Airways from Singapore (imagine Singapore, the so call the safety standards bearers). Qantas, Australia has had the same safety problems as Tiger etc.

And again, comparing a LCC with a Full Service Carrier is not a fair comparison at all. And I am not sure how you come to the conclusion that Lufthansa is a reputable airline!

There are many types of air travel which we can choose, if we are not satisfied with one.

Whenever you are free, please make an appointment with me so that I could bring you to DCA and show you the safety standards of our airlines.

“Always the other side of the grass is greener”

Tks

XXXXXXXXX
Undersecretary of Aviation
Ministry of Transport, Malaysia
Tel: XXXXXX”
In addition to the above, I also wish to highlight the fact that before AirAsia is permitted to fly to or operate in a particular country; its Aviation Authority (equivalent to Department of Civil Aviation in Malaysia) would scrutinize our adherence to safety regulations and standards by benchmarking it against our Maintenance Program (which includes the 25 minutes turn-around check). Unless and until the Maintenance Program received approval, we won’t get clearance to get in to the respective countries.
Back in Malaysia, our renewal of Air Operator Certificate, which is on annual basis, would also be in jeopardy if safety standards are not met.
Final food for thought: How would AirAsia compromise on safety when it has the youngest fleet in the region and is the single biggest purchaser of Airbus A320 planes in the world?
So now you decide if this is truth or myth?