Tony Fernandes CEO Blog

I had the privilege of watching the semi-finals between our world squash champion Nicol David and Alison Waters last Saturday. It is always a joy to watch Nicol in action; to see her lightning quick moves and superior court-craft.

Nicol was trailing for most of the first set when she caught up at 10-10 and was awarded a let. The set went on evenly to 11-11 and then 12-12. She finally overcame Waters with a 14-12 victory. Nicol fell behind again in the second set, trailing 7-10 but caught up to make it 10-all before winning 12-10. Waters took the third set before Nicol wrapped up the game, 11-7 in the fourth. Excellent play by two talented athletes that kept us on the edge for over an hour!

Nicol covers her bases well. You won’t recognize any signature Nicol moves because she’s a real all-rounder and that makes her tough to beat. But above all I think her biggest strength is her steely mental endurance.

When Nicol is down she does not quiver. She does not sulk or throw tantrums as many racket-sports athletes are wont to do. She is disciplined and single-minded in her goal. And that is to win. This is the hallmark of a true champion.
Another thing about Nicol is that she is that good because she competes with the best. Waters was a formidable opponent and no pushover. Even Nicol admitted that she had to “dig deep” into her reserves to beat Waters. That probably would've made her victory that much sweeter.

We can all learn from winners like Nicol. Never say die even when you’re down and when the prize doesn’t seem within reach. Like running a marathon. Often you just need to suck it in, turn the corner and you’re home free.

I see plenty of talent and potential around me but I am often disappointed by their lack of fighting spirit and self-belief. Sometimes it’s baffling. And yet, Malaysia has fighters like Nicol who compete at international tournaments – no breaks, no concessions.

If only all Malaysians companies were more like Nicol David. We would have many more world champs.

What an absolutely revving weekend it was at the AirAsia British MotoGP. Another proud moment for AirAsia to be title sponsor for another globally popular event but what really made me happy was to see Malaysian talent on the circuit.

Muhammad Zulfahmi Khairuddin, if you don’t already know him, is a rider for team AirAsia-Sepang International Circuit in the 125cc class. He pretty much came from nowhere as a wildcard draw in the Malaysian GP last year. We were so impressed that he finished among the top 20 throughout the whole 2009 season that we wanted give him the opportunity to ride permanently with a team willing to go full throttle with him. We’re happy to see it through and to watch this young Banting boy mature as a rider and as an individual. Fahmi is now based in Bologna, Italy for his physical training in between races.

He’ll have quite some way to go before he becomes world champ one day but I have a good feeling about Fahmi. He is barely 19 but the kid has got his head well screwed onto his shoulders – humble, and a little shy but willing to work hard to make his dreams real. The story of a small-town Klang boy making it good in the international arena is going to be such an inspiration to the kids at home.
It’s in a way a reflection of the AirAsia story too. We began from virtually nothing, we were given an opportunity and now we’re world’s best low cost airline. I never for once believed that Malaysia lacked talent, brains nor ingenuity, merely opportunities.

And that’s what we’re trying to do at AirAsia – give opportunities to those who deserve it. Sure sponsoring something like the MotoGP is fantastic visibility for our brand but really there is the other dimension of helping unleashed hidden Malaysian and also Asean talent. We’re doing that with our driver development programme and soon we will launch a similar one for motorbike riders.

Silverstone was Fahmi’s fifth race of the season and although he didn’t finish it the team is still pleased with his performance considering that he suffered quite a crash on Friday. We look forward to more exciting races ahead. Go Fahmi!

I’ve always been a strong believer in market forces. When they are not manipulated to serve a few clever bankers they have that canny ability to set the right price.

Subsidies, in my view are a form of market manipulation. You could say it is benevolent market manipulation because there is that noble aim to make life easier for those living with less. It also gives the warm cosy feeling when you know there is the state there to watch your back when the price of oil goes a little berserk.

All well and good, but subsidies are a rather crude tool for providing citizen welfare which has become a bane to economic growth and I fully support proposal to scrap them

As popular with voters as they are, a startling 70 per cent of subsidies are enjoyed by the rich who don’t actually need them. I find this unreal and frankly a little embarrassing -- it’s sort of like a young man beginning to earn his own keep and yet refusing to move out of his folks’ place.

Subsidised petrol for one has become a real menace to our economic progress. Artificially cheap petrol keeps people happy for as long as the government can afford it but it threatens to break the bank account when the price of oil catapults to insane levels as it is wont to do in recent times. And so here we are today realizing that it’s time to grow up and live in the real world where we pay real prices.

It will be inconvenient at first because of the adjustments we will have to make. But in the long term companies will be forced to innovate, improvise and think creatively to bring down costs. Surely that can’t be a bad thing.

I do hope that the savings from subsidy cuts will be spent wisely. We have invested plenty on multi-lane highways but not enough in education, universities and meaningful R&D so it makes sense to channel more money there.

My final, but no less important point on the subject is let us not just look at the obvious RM103 billion we can save by ending direct subsidies. There are the less obvious indirect subsidies that companies like Malaysia Airlines receive through state support and preferential treatment.

MAS still gets its turf well protected and of course this distorts the market prices of air tickets. When government departments book tickets with MAS, they pay full fares when they could be getting discounts if they booked through travel agents. All airlines operate from the starting point of full fares but give discounts according to the volume of ticket bookings. When government departments are forced to pay full fares each time it begins to look like a subsidy to me.

Invariably you will find that where AirAsia is not allowed to fly, consumers have to pay higher fares. Just look at what it costs to fly to Melbourne compared to Sydney. Because of restrictions, a return ticket to Sydney from Kuala Lumpur at full fares today, is over 70% higher than what it would cost to fly to Melbourne. This is really an indirect tax on consumers which we’ve long lifted from other strategic industries like telecommunications. Celcom competes and fight with the likes of Maxis and DiGi and I think Celcom CEO, Datuk Seri Shazalli Ramly is doing a great job standing up against his very formidable challengers. Over time Celcom will only improve.

So I see no point if we embark on a half-hearted reform by only dealing with one dimension of market subsidies. There needs to be on the whole, a more liberal, lively and fairly regulated market place. Only then will we see a real transformation of Malaysia’s economy.

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.

Over the last seven months much has been said about me Din and Naza and our venture into Formula One.

“Why?” and “Are you afraid of failure?” were the most common questions.

I’ve never written about this. But an article in Malaysian Insider has prompted me to. There have been many jokes about Lotus which I personally find quite funny. Kenny Sia did a hilarious one on why we couldn’t win which I use in many of my presentations.

But it is his second article on Lotus that actually seriously resonated with us and vindicated our thoughts. The second one was still funny but really was quite nasty. It made me feel that the reason for going into Formula One was right. For too long we have been a nation of losers and we always whack those who try. We ridicule them instead of celebrating ambition, innovation and guts.

It has been a great few weeks for Malaysian sport; Nicol David at the KL Squash Open and Lee Chong Wei at the All England Men’s Singles – two worthy champions. And over the weekend, who would have thought that a Malaysian car could come three places from getting a point in the world championship after only two races?

And that’s why we did this.

As a nation we need to believe that we can do anything. That we can be the best. Our kids need to stop worshiping the Manchester Uniteds , Ferraris , and Steve Jobses of other lands. Stop thinking that heroes only come from abroad. We must start believing that we, Malaysians, can. That we can compete and be the best in the world.

Look at AirAsia. Everyone laughed at us. Look at us now. The world’s best low cost airline; accomplished in just eight years. Who is laughing now?

So to all the cynics give Malaysia and Malaysians a chance. Embrace the brave, the visionaries, the dreamers and the innovators. Embrace positive energy.

It’s much better than just writing negative stories. Go out and make a difference. Don’t just hammer those with a positive attitude. Change today and go out and make a difference.

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.

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!