AirAsia boss hopes Asean will meld into a single market

“We are a company that operates across Asean, and we want our staff to reflect this region’s incredible diversity,” he said.
AirAsia, established in 2001 by Fernandes and Kamarudin Meranun, is not just a Malaysian airline, but also a true Asean airline connecting 79 destinations via 17 hubs in all 10 member countries.
The airline has evolved from being the first low-cost carrier in Asean to becoming a airline with a growing presence in the global aviation industry. 
Its fleet of 174 Airbus A320 aircraft is expected to bloom to 203 this year.
The group flies 225 routes to 109 destinations in 18 countries.
Fernandes is proud of creating a truly Asean company
“We walk the talk. We have a Thai chief financial officer, an Indonesian communications head and a Filipino head of social media.”
Everyone in the airline has his or her own strengths and it would be “foolish not to tap into that”, he said.
Last year, the airline’s revenue soared 9 per cent to 6.85 billion ringgit (Bt54 billion) from 6.30 billion ringgit in the previous year.
Fernandes famously bought the ailing, debt-ridden airline for 1 ringgit from a Malaysian government-owned company and relaunched it as a pioneer of low-cost travel in Asia.
AirAsia went on to win the coveted Skytrax World’s Best Low-Cost Airline award eight years in a row from 2009-16.
Fernandes said that when he started the airline with his partner and long-time friend Kamarudin, everyone thought they were crazy.
“Three days after we launched, September 11 happened. That was just the beginning,” he said. 
The company navigated through all sorts of obstacles from high oil prices to low oil prices, the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic, avian outbreak flu, tsunamis, earthquakes and the conflict in Thailand between former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s red-shirt supporters and the yellow-shirt protesters opposing him.
Despite the challenges, AirAsia Group has carried more than 360 million passengers since its inception 16 years ago.
Looking at Asean’s economic progress, Fernandes said its governments should “cut back on regulations that hold back economic integration”.
AirAsia is also an airline partner for Visit Asean@50 for Asean’s 50th anniversary, where it seeks to intensify efforts to fly millions of non-Aseans into the region and promote its places of interest.
“Asean has a huge advantage in terms of size, talent, diversity and geography, but as long as we aren’t able to act as one, we will be disadvantaged,” he said.
Over five years, the airline intends to move forward with its plans to list its Asean units under a holding company.
“Our Indonesia and Philippine affiliates have shown tremendous progress and we are confident they will be able to go for listing soon.
“We are talking to governments to get them to change ownership rules and we are beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
With the Asean Economic Community, the region could move towards a true single market to show the world Asean’s potential, he said.