JAKARTA, Indonesia – Like Coke, known in every household.
That’s the dream and new mission set by AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes for the world’s best low cost carrier in an interview with Punto Central Luzon shortly after the official launch of the AirAsia Asean regional base here on August 7.
Fernandes, who steered the heavily-indebted Malaysian airline in December 2001 to become one of the most successful companies in the world today with over US $ 4.2 billion in assets as of latest data, said they will focus on the Asean region and nearby countries in Asia to “ensure quality of service than quantity.”
OUR HOME
Dato Aziz Bakar, chairman of the Malaysian-based Air Asia Berhad, disclosed that their flights “outside of the region” are at Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Gold Coast in Australia and Tehran in Iraq.
He added that they will soon offer flights to Iraq.
Bakar said they stopped flights to New Zealand and London in England because they want to focus and concentrate on the region they call “home.”
”Of course we want to grow on a global level. But we have to be sure and careful.
We don’t want to serve in other areas just for the sake of doing business. We have to be prepared and ready all the time,” said Bakar, who joined Fernandes in the launching ceremony at the 45th floor of the Equity Tower in this city’s central business district.
CENTER OF OPERATIONS
In his speech before some 150 journalists connected with various news entities around the world, Fernandes stressed that their newly launched regional office is “reaffirming” AirAsia’s commitment to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Established in 1967, ASEAN’s founding members are the highly-populated Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Singapore.
The other members are Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Cambodia and Myanmar
The launch was held on the eve of the 45th anniversary of the ASEAN.
The association was founded on August 8 in Bangkok, Thailand but the 10-member group’s secretariat is based in Jakarta, the largest city in SEA in terms of land area whose population is some 11 million as of 2011.
Fernandes said with their new regional base, AirAsia strengthens its position as the Asean airline.
AirAsia Asean was set up as part of the regional expansion strategy of the group, which now includes six airlines, five of which are anchored in Asean: the short-haul carriers AirAsia Malaysia, AirAsia Thailand, AirAsia Indonesia, AirAsia Philippines and AirAsia Japan, and the long-haul carrier AirAsia X.
Fernandes said they opened the office in Jakarta “to be out of our comfort zone”.
“When you are too comfortable, you get complacent,” said Fernandes, who used to be based at his home country of Malaysia, whose capital Kuala Lumpur is about two hours air travel away from Jakarta.
Fernandez and Dato’ Kamarudin Meranun, deputy group CEO of AirAsia, will be both based at the AirAsia Asean office.
The 48-year-old AirAsia CEO recently acquired an apartment near their Jakarta headquarters calling it “my new home.”
BIG MARKET
Fernandes said “we are blessed to be located in a part of the world where economic growth is expected to be sustained despite the chilly economic winds blowing through Europe and the United States.”
“Shifting AirAsia’s emphasis to a regional strategy is, we believe, not just good business, but also a move that will keep us ahead of the inevitable competition that is heading our way,” he added.
AirAsia Asean, as the nerve center of the group’s regional expansion, will help ready the group for the implementation of the ASEAN Open Skies policy and the Economic Community, initiatives that the ASEAN Secretariat is now actively pushing among its 10 member-countries, said Fernandes.
He was instrumental in lobbying to then Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir in 2003 to propose the idea of open skies agreements with Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore. As a result, the three nations granted landing rights to AirAsia and other budget airlines.
“AirAsia Asean will help ensure that our voice, our concerns and our appeals are heard much more clearly in corridors of power within ASEAN.
One of the reasons for locating the office to Jakarta is to help engage more closely with the ASEAN Secretariat,” said Fernandes, whose complete name is Tan Sri Anthony Francis Fernandes.
By focusing on regional growth, AirAsia expands its market base to 650 million people, and bring Asean closer -within four-hour flight radius – to huge populations in neighboring giants China and India as well as in Japan and Korea, said AirAsia in a statement.
The Asean region, Northeast Asia and South Asia have combined a population of 3 billion people, 43% of the world’s population, it was learned.
“No single domestic market in Asean, not even Indonesia, can match the potential of a regional ASEAN market of over 600 million people,” said Fernandes.
BORACAY
Fernandes said that they are expected to serve 30 million passengers in 2012. He added that they had more than 10,000 workers to date, almost half of whom are based in Malaysia.
The London School of Economic graduate started AirAsia with two “used” planes and now the airline operates with at least 105 Airbus fleet.
Fernandes said that they will offer 30 new destinations this year. They offer flights to at least 160 destinations in 25 countries.
“Some of the areas were never visited by a plane on a regular and commercial basis,” he added, citing flights to Bandung, which is south of Jakarta.
Fernandes said the dream of people in Malaysia and Indonesia to visit the island paradise of Boracay, some 315 kilometers south of Manila, Philippines, is “no longer a dream” with the Philippines’ AirAsia based at the Clark International Airport (CIA) in Pampanga.
AirAsia CEO Marianne Hontiveros said among their three local destinations the daily flights to Kalibo (Boracay) in Aklan province “is very strong since it started” in March.
Fernandes attended the start of the AirAsia’s operations via the CIA, launching twin flights to Davao City and Kalibo on March 28.
Hontiveros said Fernandes revolutionized air travel when he introduced “real” low-cost fare under AirAsia’s famous tagline, “Now Everyone Can Fly.”
”But our affordability is matched with quality service,” said Hontiveros, announcing that their two new Airbus A-320 planes will arrive in November.
They also offer flights to Puerto Princesa City in Palawan and international flights to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Macau and Hong Kong using their first two new Airbus A-320s.
Hontiveros said they eye flights to Singapore, Thailand and China soon.
