TO SAY that AirAsia's founder and CEO Tony Fernandes has a jet-setting lifestyle isn't to suggest that he's part of 'an international social group of wealthy people, organising and participating in social activities all around the world that are unreachable to ordinary people', to quote from Wikipedia.
For him, jetting about - OK, so it's with a low-cost carrier - is his day job, especially as he's still negotiating new routes for the seven-year-old Malaysian budget airline start-up. Just this week, for instance, he flew into town to launch AirAsia's four new Indonesian routes from Singapore.
So when he's on the ground and out of the office, it's family first for this time-stretched CEO, who declares that his children are his priority when he knocks off from work.
'That's part of the reason why I started AirAsia's long-haul flights to London,' chuckles the 45-year-old, revealing that his 15-year-old daughter just started boarding school there.
'When she first went away, I was a wreck! I'd fly up to London to visit her on a whim - sometimes straight from the office on a Friday night!' he declares, adding that he carries his Malaysian passport with him all the time.
'But I've gotten better now ... more in control,' he adds. He says that he cooks for her when he's there, or they would just stay home and watch TV together. Or he would take her out to do her hair, or go shopping. 'You never get another chance with them, do you, when they're growing up so fast?' he muses.
Proudly, he points out how she's following his same schooling path - from his primary school right up to his boarding school. 'And if she continues on to the London School of Economics...' he trails off hopefully.
Weekends at home, when he's actually in Kuala Lumpur and where he tries to be these days, is spent with his eight-year-old son. And they do stuff guys do, like play rugby, football and hockey. His wife, who used to write for television, is now a stay-at-home mother, and 'a fantastic painter' who keeps them all grounded, he declares.
'We're a very simple family. I don't have a driver, we drive smart cars, and we live in a simple house. It's important that your children don't get affected by your material success,' he says.
Where do they holiday? Langkawi and Bali. 'And my children hate my mobile phone. One time when we were on holiday, they took it and mailed it back to our home in KL! I was hopping mad!'
He confesses that he's a workaholic. 'I love my work. But I think that as I get older, I'm getting a sense of balance.'
Other than the time he spends with family, Mr Fernandes also enjoys sporty activities. Not that he looks it, he admits, gesturing to his generous waistline. 'I was very serious about sports when I was young. At one time I wanted to be a sportsman,' he says, recalling the days when he played cricket, hockey, football and rugby.
'I can still beat a lot of people in squash. They think I can't because I'm overweight, with grey hair, and then I beat them,' he declares. 'I played hockey the other day' during a visit to his boarding school, he adds. 'My first time in 10 years!'
But in recent years, he has switched to futsal on Sunday nights. 'The football pitch seems a lot bigger at this age!' So futsal is a good substitute, a five-by-five indoor football game. 'It's not as taxing as football because the pitch is much smaller, and it's easier to find nine other people to play with you,' he says.
Incidentally, he's also the chairman of Singapore Slingers, Singapore's only professional basketball outfit- even though he doesn't play basketball. He was invited to take over the chairmanship of the Australian National Basketball League franchise from Wee Siew Kim, MP for Ang Mo Kio and president of the Basketball Association of Singapore, last year.
'He came up to me one day and said: 'I want you to be chairman of my basketball team.' I said, are you nuts?' Mr Fernandes recounts. Still, he was talked into it.
As for his love-hate relationship with Singapore, it's leaning more towards love these days. 'I've not been a big fan of the Singapore government institution, right? Because they gave me a hard time,' he says, referring to the days when AirAsia couldn't get lower operating prices in Singapore and was refused its application for direct bus feeder services between Singapore and Senai.
'I used to find it a more sterile place, but I enjoy coming down here now,' he says, adding that he has also been invited to speak at Singapore Management University. 'I love meeting young minds, and I get a real kick out of a bunch of young kids asking me to be the guest of honour at their convocation.'
With AirAsia expanding its routes here now, Mr Fernandes may well become a more regular fixture in Singapore soon enough.
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