AirAsia’s Tony Fernandes a no-frills CEO

TONY FERNANDES: No airs. PHOTO FROM EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—Desiree Bandal was awed when she first sighted her boss holding office among them, just a few steps away from her table.

“He’s kind of a rock star in Southeast Asia. He’s a celebrity but he is really approachable,” said Bandal, a Filipina who works with Asia’s No. 1 budget airline AirAsia.

When she first came to office five years ago, Bandal was surprised to see Tony Fernandes, AirAsia’s CEO, working together with the other employees in an open office in Kuala Lumpur.

Fernandes’ space is similar to those of his employees—with only a table, a chair. His only concession is an extra space for his collection of caps hanging on the wall.

“A lot of offices in Malaysia are similarly constructed like the offices in the Philippines where the CEOs have their own offices. But Tony Fernandes believes in making himself accessible to the staff. We have an open-office contact,” Bandal said. “There are no barriers. There are no walls.”

CAPS COLLECTOR Tony Fernandes' collection caps displayed at his tiny workplace in AirAsia's office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Like Bandal, a group of Filipino journalists, who visited the office of AirAsia in Malaysia was in awe after seeing Fernandes’ tiny workplace.

“He will just come in to you and sit next to you and ask what you are doing.  It’s different, right?” Aziz Laikar, who toured the journalists around the office, said of Fernandes.

“You can just go and see him. In fact, he would have even joined us if he’s here today,” Laikar added.

OPEN OFFICE Filipina Desiree Bandal (girl in white blouse) shares the office with Tony Fernandes, chief executive officer of Malaysia-based AirAsia, a budget airline that has also put a hub at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport. AirAsia Philippines hopes to fly commercially by December 2011.

No wonder, AirAsia employees consider him a person with no frills, just like an AirAsia plane, which has pioneered in low-cost air travel in Asia.

When Fernandes and his partners—Dato Kamarudin Mranun and Dato Aziz Bakar—decided to take over the losing airline company from a Malaysian conglomerate in 2001, they started from the concept of simply  making  flying affordable for everyone.

“AirAsia believes in the no-frills, hassle-free, low-fare business concept and feels that keeping costs low requires high efficiency in every part of the business. Efficiency creates savings, which are then passed on to guests so that affordable air travel can become a reality,” an AirAsia brochure says.

Flying with AirAsia is much cheaper than other airlines because it caters to passengers who can travel without the frills of meals, frequent flier miles or airport lounges.

No complimentary drinks or meals are offered on board but passengers may purchase them in the plane or make a pre-booked order before flying.

NO FRILLS The office of AirAsia's CEOTony Fernandes in Malaysia.

AirAsia started flying on September 8, 2001, with only two planes and 250 staff. Today, after 10 years, AirAsia has a total of 108 planes serving 32 million passengers, said Zaman Ahmad, the company’s regional head for corporate quality.

“We grew from flying 250,000 passengers in the first year to what we believe is 32 million passengers this year. We are now Asia’s fourth-largest carrier,” Ahmad said.

Currently, AirAsia flies from Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia hubs. It has forged a partnership with local businessmen Antonio “Tonyboy” Cojuangco Jr., Michael Romero and Marianne Hontiveros to operate in the Philippines but they have yet to get the approval of local authorities to fly commercially.

By the end of the year, AirAsia Philippines hopes to finally fly from its hub, the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark Freeport, Pampanga.

Originally posted at 04:49 pm | Monday, October 31, 2011