The driving force behind Asia’s development of low-cost air transport is shifting.
After more than 20 years in the role, the chief executive of Asia’s top low-cost carrier has decided to retire. The airline was established in 2001 by Tony Fernandes, who paid the Malaysian government only 30 cents for the rights to the name.
It’s time to change.
Almost two decades after founding AirAsia as one of the region’s first low-cost carriers, Tony Fernandes, the CEO of the AirAsia group of enterprises, has declared his desire to step down from the position.
When Fernandes ultimately decides to leave the company he founded, which is synonymous with AirAsia and low-cost air travel in many Asian nations, it will be completely different from how it was when it first began operating in November 1996. Fernandes paid the equivalent of just 30 cents in September 2001 to acquire the AirAsia name from a Malaysian government-owned business. After that, he continued to grow the business until it was undoubtedly Asia’s most well-known and well-liked low-cost airline brand.
succession preparation
According to Yahoo News, Fernandes has already chosen to depart the business he started, though he hasn’t said with certainty when. The length of time it takes to locate a suitable replacement for him will be a major factor in his choice. In an interview with Bloomberg last week, Fernandes discussed his choice and said,
“Good leadership involves knowing when to leave. I don’t really care where [my replacement] comes from. We rarely discuss topics like race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation. As long as they can complete the task, I don’t care.
Several difficult years for AirAsia
From a small company operating a few outdated Boeing 737s out of its hub in Kuala Lumpur, AirAsia and its affiliates have expanded into one of the biggest low-cost carriers in the area.
According to ch-aviation.com, AirAsia now has a fleet of 99 Airbus narrowbodies, with 354 more A321NXs on order. The airline offers flights to 66 locations in 18 different nations. Along with the low-cost, long-haul subsidiary AirAsiaX, the group also consists of the partner airlines AirAsia India, AirAsia Indonesia, AirAsia Philippines, and Thai AirAsia.
The other subsidiaries have struggled over the previous few years, with the Thai company and the Japanese airline within the brand family both declaring bankruptcy. The latter, however, has experienced somewhat of a miraculous revival following the conclusion of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Japan-based iteration failed, whereas the Thai-based business proceeded despite this loss.
Additionally, the group survived the tragic 2014 crash involving Indonesian AirAsia Flight 8501. The flight was a regularly scheduled international passenger service from Java, Indonesia’s Surabaya, to Singapore, operated by the Indonesian affiliate.
All 162 occupants of the Airbus A320-200 that was traveling the route when it crashed into the Java Sea on December 28, 2014, perished. One of the plane’s rudder travel limiter devices experienced an electrical failure, which set off a chain of mishaps and mistakes that resulted in an unrecoverable aircraft stall.
At its height, AirAsia employed 21,000 people across Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines and was the fourth-largest airline in Asia.
What is coming up for Fernandes?
The 58-year-old Fernandes left his position as global CEO of AirAsiaX in November 2022 to concentrate on Capital A, a significant rebranding initiative of the AirAsia global that had been initially announced back in January of that year.
According to reports, Fernandes is regarded as a tough airline CEO as well as an accomplished business leader. At this time, he is unsure of his potential next location. Fernandes stated his future ambitions in an interview with Bloomberg,
“I enjoy private equity that is actively managed and supports empowering young people to effect change. I think there is a low-cost model for health and education. The two biggest forms of discrimination are these two.
Within the airline industry, “musical chairs”
Following a series of executive transitions taking place in the global airline business, Tony Fernandes left AirAsia. Simple Flying has recently covered the termination of the CEOs of TAP Air Portugal and Viva Air Colombia as well as the appointment of new CEOs at Brussels Airlines and IndiGo. Doug Parker, the former CEO and chairman of American Airlines, resigned in February of this year.
It would be interesting to see where Tony Fernandes turns up next after guiding AirAsia through the ups and downs of the past 20 years and bringing it from modest beginnings to where it is now. And although though he doesn’t seem interested in taking on another management position with an airline, he hasn’t completely ruled it out as of yet.
