Its affiliate airlines Thai AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia, Philippines AirAsia, and AirAsia India have hubs in Don Mueang International Airport, Soekarno–Hatta International Airport, Ninoy Aquino International Airport, and Kempegowda International Airport respectively, while its sister airline, AirAsia X, focuses on long-haul routes. AirAsia's registered office is in Petaling Jaya, Selangor while its head office is at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (AirAsia, n.d.).
AirAsia operates with the world's lowest unit cost of US$0.023 per available seat kilometre (ASK) and a passenger breakeven load factor of 52%. It has hedged 100% of its fuel requirements for the next three years, achieves an aircraft turnaround time of 25 minutes, has a crew productivity level that is better than that of Malaysia Airlines and has an average aircraft utilisation rate of 13 hours a day. In 2007, The New York Times described the airline as a "pioneer" of low-cost travel in Asia. AirAsia is the sponsor of Malaysia national football team, Singapore national football team and Queens Park Rangers. AirAsia is also a former sponsor of Manchester United and Asia Red Tour (AirAsia, n.d.).
AirAsia is recognized by its lowest fare, quality services and their tagline “Now Everyone Can Fly” (Introduction To Air Asia Company, 2017). With a strong yet simple slogan “Now Everyone Can Fly”, AirAsia has effectively placed its brand in customer’s mind when comes to selection of flight (History Of Air Asia, 2017).
AirAsia has been named as the world's best low cost carrier for 10 years in a row including the latest award for the year 2018 (AirAsia, n.d.). Meanwhile, AirAsia X was also presented World’s Best Low-Cost Airline Premium Cabin for the sixth consecutive year. The Skytrax World Airline Awards are dubbed the “Oscars of the Aviation Industry” and are the global benchmark of airline excellence with over 20.36 million customers surveyed worldwide by more than 105 nationalities, measuring standards across 49 key performance indicators of an airline’s frontline products and services (NST Business, 2018).
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History of AirAsia
AirAsia was established in 1993 and began operations on 18 November 1996. It was founded by a government-owned conglomerate, DRB-HICOM. On 2 December 2001, the heavily indebted airline was bought by former Time Warner executive Tony Fernandes' company Tune Air Sdn Bhd for the token sum of one ringgit (about US$0.26 at the time) with US$11 million (MYR 40 million) worth of debts (AirAsia, n.d.).
Under the leadership of Tony Fernandes, the airline was flying high, producing a profit in 2002 and launching new routes from its hub in Kuala Lumpur, undercutting former monopoly operator Malaysia Airlines with promotional fares as low as MYR 1 (US$0.27). In 2003, AirAsia opened a second hub at Senai International Airport in Johor Bahru near Singapore and launched its first international flight to Bangkok (AirAsia, n.d.). After that the only place AirAsia was heading for is up, as the Thai and Indonesian subsidiaries were set up as well as the commencement of flights to Indonesia, Macau, China, Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia in 2005. AirAsia now flies to all ASEAN countries,a great portion of Asian countries that include India, Iran, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh; as well as to the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Korea and Australia via AirAsiaX (Jumpstart Malaysia, n.d.).
Vision
To be the largest low cost airline in Asia and serving the 3 billion people who are currently underserved with poor connectivity and high fares (AirAsia Mission, Vision & Values, n.d.).
Mission
i. To be the best company to work for whereby employees are treated as part of a big family
ii. Create a globally recognized ASEAN brand
iii. To attain the lowest cost so that everyone can fly with AirAsia
iv. Maintain the highest quality product, embracing technology to reduce cost and enhance service levels
(AirAsia Mission, Vision & Values, n.d.)
Tony Fernandes
Fernandes was born in Kuala Lumpur on 30 April 1964. He was educated at The Alice Smith School in Kuala Lumpur. Starting at age 12, from 1976 to 1983, he studied at Epsom College boarding school in England. He matriculated to the London School of Economics and graduated with a degree in accounting (Tony Fernandes, n.d.).
He worked very briefly with Virgin Atlantic as an auditor, subsequently becoming the financial controller for Richard Branson's Virgin Communications in London from 1987 to 1989 before he joined Warner Music International London as Senior Financial Analyst (Tony Fernandes, n.d.).
Fernandes was admitted as Associate Member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in 1991 and became Fellow Member in 1996. He is currently a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) (Tony Fernandes, n.d.).
Fernandes was formerly a Warner Music executive in Malaysia, and Vice President, ASEAN at Warner Music South East Asia from December 1999 to July 2001. When Time Warner Inc announced its merger with America Online Inc., Fernandes left to pursue his dream of starting a budget no-frills airline (Tony Fernandes, n.d.).
In September 2001, Fernandes purchased AirAsia and became its chief executive. One year after his takeover, AirAsia had broken even and cleared all its debts. Its initial public offering (IPO) in November 2004 was oversubscribed by 130 per cent (Tony Fernandes, n.d.).
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Edited by: 浪子
Bibliography
AirAsia. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirAsia
Introduction To Air Asia Company. (2017). Retrieved from
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/tourism/introduction-to-air-asia-company-tourism-essay.php
AirAsia Mission, Vision & Values. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.airasia.com/my/en/about-us/airasia-mission-vision-values.page
NST Business. (2018). Airasia Named the World's Best Low-cost Airline for the 10th Year in a Row. Retrieved from https://www.nst.com.my/business/2018/07/391806/airasia%C2%A0named-worlds-best-low-cost-airline-10th-year-row
History Of Air Asia. (2017). Retrieved from
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/commerce/history-of-air-asia-commerce-essay.php
Jumpstart Malaysia. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.airasia.com/common/pdf/JusmStart-Malaysia.pdf
Tony Fernandes. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Fernandes
Introduction to AirAsia
Reviewed by 浪子
on
November 06, 2018
Rating:
Reviewed by 浪子
on
November 06, 2018
Rating:
