AirAsia stands tall among peers

AirAsia has never had it so good. Its business has been soaring with strong passenger numbers, while corporate business has gone up nearly 400 percent as companies are looking for cheaper transport solutions.

Nothing personifies the carrier's success more than its dapper and suave 45-year-old Malaysian Indian Chief Executive Tony Fernandes.

On any typical day, Fernandes would be seen talking to his colleagues on his plans to expanding his network further even as he is negotiating partnerships with the world's top sports clubs and also bagging trophies and awards across the world.

"The leader has to set the tune," he said. Walking around the terminal in Kuala Lumpur is part of his daily routine and is what he calls "free market research".

Fernandes and his airline were recently crowned "Legend Figure" and "The Best Airline of 2009" respectively by the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation.

"Believe the unbelievable, dream the impossible and never take no for an answer," said Fernandes when asked for the credo behind his success.

"People often tell me that they are skeptical about my business model and ability to sustain profits. But I look at these doubts as bridges to further build my business," Fernandes said. "I'm always tagged with craziness but the crazy idea really works," he said.

The AirAsia CEO firmly believes that his airline has a great future in China. "The western and northern parts of the country offer us much hope and optimism for further growth," said Fernandes while elaborating his market strategy to China Daily.

The carrier currently operates from nine cities and regions in China, including Tianjin, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

At the same time, "the plan to cover more destinations will also help us when we compete with bigger rivals like Air China, China Southern and China Eastern Airlines", he said.

Set up in 2001 with a fleet of two aged Boeing 737-300 jets, AirAsia, currently operates over 82 flights and has to date carried over 75 million passengers to 123 destinations in Southeast Asian countries, Australia and Europe. The company is planning to add 175 jets including Airbus A320, A330 and A350 soon to its fleet.

Such has been AirAsia's success, that even bigger rivals like Cathay Pacific CEO Tony Tyler have grudgingly admitted that the airline is virtually everywhere.

Kathleen Tan, regional head of AirAsia who is also in charge of the China market, said the company is in talks with Wuhan, Nanning, Xi'an, Nanjing, Kunming and Ningbo for launching new routes.

Of its 123 routes across the world, 45 are new routes. "Hangzhou is such a beautiful city, but no airline in Southeast Asia has flights to that destination. We expect to fill the void," said Fernandes.

In China, the carrier prefers to scout for destinations with tourism value and without routes to Kuala Lumpur, AirAsia's headquarter and its largest hub.

AirAsia X, the long-haul carrier, launched its maiden flight to London in March this year.

"We are now promoting tourism between Hangzhou, Southeast Asia and London," said Tan.

Hangzhou, however, for Fernandes means a "huge and gorgeous" market. "Ten million population means half the population of Malaysia and three times that of Singapore," he said.

"China is very open and has huge market potential," he said. "But relatively, we're too small and not a big enough brand yet."

"I'd like to open up Philippines and Vietnam first before I make further inroads in China," the AirAsia CEO said.

The carrier has nine hubs of which four are in Malaysia, three in Indonesia and two in Thailand.

Two more hubs have been planned in Indonesia. None of the Chinese cities are, however, in the hub pipeline.

"Timing is everything," Fernandes said. "We are not rushing into anything."

Fernandes also often talks about the value of his UK education at Epsom College for six years. "The Epsom stint taught me ambition, humility and leadership," he wrote in his blog recently.