Tony Fernandes
Air Asia Berhad Group chief
executive officer, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes is a giant in his own right as he
leads Malaysia’s low-cost carrier to success. Coining the phrase “Everyone can
fly”, this Malaysian mogul has made it possible for every Malaysian to
experience the various cultures all over the world and expand their horizon
through low-cost travel.
Anthony Francis Fernandes,
better known as Tony Fernandes , was born in Kuala Lumpur on 30 April 1964 to
an Indian father from Goa and a mother of mixed Indian and Asian-Portuguese
descent who had been raised in Malacca, Malaysia.
Instead of following in his
father's footsteps of becoming a doctor, the tycoon had other plans in mind
when left Malaysia at the tender age of 12 to study in Epsom College, Surrey,
England and then went on to graduate from London School of Economics. Fernandes
who qualified as an Associate Member of the Association of Chartered Certified
Accountants in 1991, became a Fellow Member in 1996. He was later admitted as a
member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
in 2008. His career started with Warner Group, when he was appointed the
youngest managing director of Warner Music Malaysia in 1992. He was the South
East Asian regional vice-president for Warner Music Group from 1992 to 2001.
When Time Warner Inc. announced its merger with America Online Inc., Fernandes
left to pursue his dream of starting a budget no-frills airline.
It was through Datuk Pahamin
A. Rejab, the former secretary-general of the Malaysian Domestic Trade and
Consumer Affairs Ministry that Fernandes came to meet with then Prime Minister,
Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in October 2001. Instead of starting from scratch,
Mahathir advised Fernandes to buy an existing airline. Air Asia, the heavily indebted subsidiary of
the Malaysian government-owned conglomerate, DRB-Hicom, was losing money.
Possessing an unwavering appetite for risk , Fernandes mortgaged his home in
October 2001 after the tragic 9/11 terror attacks to acquire the bleeding
low-cost subsidiary of Air Malaysia from the Malaysian government. One year after
his takeover, Air Asia had broken even and cleared all its debts. Its initial
public offering (IPO) in November 2004 was oversubscribed by 130 per cent.
Fernandes' biggest achievement
was to open up countries within the region to new budget carriers, which
previously did not have open-skies agreements. As a result of Fernandes'
lobbying in mid-2003, Dr Mahathir brought up the idea with leaders from
neighboring countries. Those nations subsequently granted landing rights to Air
Asia and other discount carriers. In Thailand and Indonesia, Air Asia holds a
minority stake in the respective local companies. Thai Air Asia, a joint
venture with Shin Corporation, Thailand’s largest telecommunication
conglomerate, took to the skies in Feb 2004 and has to date carried over 1
million passengers in its first year of operations. PT Awair, re-launched as a
low fare airline on 8 December 2004 and subsequently renamed Indonesia Air
Asia, presently serves 5 domestic destinations in Indonesia.
His work earned him various awards
such as the Honor of the Commander of the Order of the British Empire,
conferred by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2011. The award was attributed
to his services in promoting “commercial and educational links” between the
United Kingdom (UK) and Malaysia. He was also conferred the Officer of the
Legion d’Honneur by the French government in 2010, the highest award that can
be conferred on a non-French national. This great man is a hero of the
Malaysian airline industry, changing the way the region travels and opening up
our skies to limitless possibilities. His personal credo is "Believe the
unbelievable. Dream the impossible. Never take no for an answer."
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