Tony Fernandes CEO Blog

Protests and violence, shootings and deaths, the economy taking a hit, tourists cancelling trips – the events in Bangkok over the past few weeks make for distressing viewing.

But Thailand is an amazing country, and the Thai people a pragmatic lot. Now that the violence has ended, Bangkok is determined to bounce back and AirAsia is ready and willing to help.

So yesterday a team of us from Kuala Lumpur set off on flight FD 3572 for Bangkok. Sure, the flight wasn’t as full as it usually is but we had every nationality imaginable on board. It was the same great service, the same delicious food and the same AirAsia spirit of fun and laughter served up by our crew. We had some quizzes and gave out prizes. The crew were magnificent, especially senior flight attendant, Parinya and flight attendant executive, Phatsara both of whom showed tireless effort to make the journey a true AirAsia experience. That’s what earned us the ranking of “World’s best Low-Cost Airline” for the second year running in the Skytrax survey of 18 million travellers.

We went to Bangkok to demonstrate our commitment to the Land of Smiles. We are an Asean airline, and we are here to stay and help the diverse peoples of this region prosper. I believe that it is during crises that people recognize how AirAsia is different because these are the moments when our “can-do” attitude really shines through. Throughout this difficult time our Thai staff showed up for work without excuses, always smiling and above all, phenomenally professional despite the very real threat to their lives and well-being.

We view challenges as something to overcome. Not for us the woe is me, wringing of hands. That’s just not our culture. We always find a way to cope and transcend. That’s down to the creativity, hard work and dedication of our 7,500 staff. I always say that in our short eight years, we have been through every crisis and catastrophe known to mankind – disease, disaster, dissent – but we always bounce back. So will Bangkok. And we’re helping by giving out 10,000 free seats to Bangkok from anywhere on our network.

As our Thai AirAsia CEO, Tassapon Bijleveld, said yesterday: “The past is like a rear view mirror, smaller than a windshield because the future is far bigger than what’s behind us.”

I couldn’t have agreed more.

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.

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.