AirAsia Celebrates First Asean Crew Graduation

04 June 2009

SEPANG -- AirAsia, the leading low-cost carrier in Asia, held its first Asean crew complement graduation ceremony Thursday, which saw 68 trainees graduating as the first group of Asean flight attendants.

AirAsia's deputy group chief executive officer, Datuk Kamarudin Meranun presented the certificates of graduation.

The graduation ceremony marked a historical moment for the airline, where for the first time it presented the first batch of an all-Asean flight attendant graduates.

"While other airlines are cutting capacity and retrenching staff, AirAsia continues to grow and keeps on hiring," Kamarudin said during the ceremony held at the AirAsia Academy here.

Of the 68 graduating flight attendants, 27 were Malaysians, 22 Thais, 14 Myanmarese, three Indonesians and two Singaporeans, he said.

"As an Asean airline, an all-Asean crew is very important as it reflects our passion in projecting the beautiful image of Asean to the world," Kamarudin said.

AirAsia, he said, has grown its aircraft fleet from two in 2001 to 76 today while its staff strength grew from 200 to over 6,000 presently.