AirAsia chief elated with US award

SINGAPORE: Multiple award winner Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes is particularly enjoying the prestigious Laureate Award in the Commercial Air Transport category that he won recently in Washington DC mainly because it is from the United States.

The award that recognises exceptional strategy, heroism and leadership in aviation, aerospace and defence was presented by US-based global aviation publisher Aviation Week on March 3.

The AirAsia chief executive officer said it was very difficult for Malaysians to be recognised in the US because the media was concentrated there and in England, thus the companies there (the US) would get a lot more coverage than a Malaysian company.

“When people talk about Asia, they think of China, India and Japan but not Malaysia, so we have to work much harder to get noticed,” he said after the launch of four new AirAsia routes from Singapore to Indonesia on Monday.

Fernandes added that the reward was a little more prestigious than the rest because famous people in the industry had also received it.

Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes

Among them, he said, were Herbert Kelleher of Southwest Airlines and Sir Freddie Laker, who was one of the first airline owners to adopt the no-frills airline business model.

However, he quickly attributed his winning to his wonderful team and to Malaysians whom he referred to as “those who had been giving a great amount of support” to the airline.

“I can’t get an award without fantastic staff. I am just the head of the company. So, it is great for AirAsia and also great for Malaysia,” he said, adding that Malaysians should be proud about a Malaysian company being recognised in the US as an airline that had revolutionised air travel in the world.

He also said the award helped in its brand awareness in the US and thought it had a very good change of entering the market soon.

Fernandes had certainly proved his winning worthwhile by being able to expand AirAsia and continue to create more jobs in a time when many other businesses were seeing red.

“As long as there are people there, there is always business. It’s just how you do to capture that business,” he said.