In 2001, Tony
Fernandes signed a deal to buy a failing commercial airline for around 25
cents. Three days later, 9/11 happened: passenger numbers around the world fell
2.7%, and did not recover for several years. But despite the inauspicious
timing, AirAsia quickly became a highly successful low-cost carrier.
In a Facebook Live chat at the World Economic Forum's ASEAN
meeting, the Malaysian entrepreneur spoke to the Forum's Mike Hanley about the
“incredible ride” he's been on with AirAsia, and shares what he's learned about
being a leader in a 21st-century company.
Fernandes, who came up with the tagline “Now everyone can fly”,
describes how, thanks to the internet, AirAsia was able to grow at a tremendous
pace, going from 200,000 passengers in the company's first year to 55 million
last year.
"We are really one of the babies of the Fourth Industrial
Revolution,” he says. “No-one in South East Asia used the internet to buy
airline tickets. We painted ‘AirAsia.com’ on all our planes; we drove that
message forward. We were the first airline to use social media to market and
promote ourselves, and we're now second largest airline in the world for social
media, with 40 million followers in various forms.”
The highs and lows
On the subject of being a fast-growing business in the digital
age, Fernandes says: “We've been amazed at the pace of change. It's been
fantastic for us. We've changed people's lives and created a lot of jobs.”
The biggest challenge faced by the airline industry today is
government protectionism, according to Fernandes. Airlines are unable to
operate like any other global business because of a rule that caps foreign
investment.
"Malaysia Airports owns an airport in Turkey; Heathrow is owned by
the Spanish. Yet we're not allowed to own 100% of airlines,” he says, referring
to a new World Economic Forum report that urges governments to rethink airline
ownership.
"What governments fail to realize is that airlines are massive
drivers of economic development. If we could channel capital more efficiently
into the industry we could grow much more.”
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