AirAsia sees brand value in Asean flag

30 March 2009

The brand value of the Asean flag is about to be exploited by a private company. The budget carrier AirAsia believes that the trading bloc's flag, featuring 10 paddy stalks, is something that can create a good brand identity and a sense of belonging among nearly 600 million consumers in the region.

AirAsia is now aiming to turn itself into an ''Asean'' carrier, replacing the Malaysian, Thai and Indonesian flags on the planes of its three affiliated airlines.

Ironically, the move comes at a time when the effectiveness of ''Visit Asean'' as a regional tourism slogan is being debated.Consultants recently recommended that the group adopt ''Visit Southeast Asia'' instead.

AirAsia has received approval from the Asean directors-general of each state to paint the Asean flag, marque and slogans on its planes and other products.

Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said the low-cost carrier group was qualified to carry the Asean identity largely because its operations extend across the 10 member states.

The flagship AirAsia, is based in Malaysia. Together with its sister carriers, Thai AirAsia and Indonesia AirAsia, it covers more capitals and cities in Asean than any other national airline in the region.

''So they can rightly claim to be an Asean carrier,'' said Dr Surin. ''I believe AirAsia wants to sell the potential of Asean, be identified as an Asean firm and raise the profile of Asean in the world, which is good and should be supported.''

The AirAsia group currently operates 114 routes covering 64 destinations.

While cockpit and cabin crews on each of its airlines are dominated by nationals from the countries where they are based, the group is now taking steps to ''Aseanise'' its onboard services.

For instance, the Malaysian cabin crew on AirAsia X, the long-haul operator, greet and send off passengers on Kuala Lumpur-London flights with a Thai-style ''wai''.

''We want to Aseanise pilots, cabin crews, languages, entertainment. We are starting a new trend,'' said AirAsia X chief executive Azran Osman-Rani.

''We want to make our customers feel we are their airline as well. I don't want them to think they are taking a foreign airline. That is why we want to make our crew more Asean.''

He added that, from a business perspective, ''the sexiness of Asean is 600 million people''.

However, the Asean identity does not mean that AirAsia airlines will abandon the national flags under which they are registered by each government.

Dr Surin said Asean would like other big corporations in Asean _ PTT, Siam Cement and Charoen Pokphand in Thailand for example _ to associate themselves with the Asean identity.

But he added that Asean would only welcome companies that have a business presence in most, if not all, of the 10 Asean states. No fee is imposed.