Airline CEO says he had to fly on a rival as his flights were all full

• AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said his flights were all full so he had to use a rival carrier.
• Users on Instagram are divided between praising the move and expressing disbelief.
• Fernandes went viral after posting a shirtless picture of himself getting a massage at work.

You may think flying on a rival carrier wouldn’t be something for an airline CEO to crow about on social media. That’s not how Tony Fernandes thinks.

The AirAsia boss says he had to travel on Singapore Airlines because his own planes were sold out.

“No seat on @flyairasia for three flights so had to take @singaporeair. Hehehe,” Fernandes wrote in an Instagram post published on Wednesday.

He shared pictures of himself boarding a Singapore Airlines plane and the view from his seat, which appeared to be in economy class.

A return economy flight between Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where AirAsia is headquartered, and Singapore costs about $70 on the budget carrier. The same flight with Singapore Airlines typically costs $60 to $130 more.

Fernandes’ post drew praise from some users. One wrote: “It is so refreshing to see the CEO of a private airline respect his customer bookings and not find a ‘corporate’ method to shuffle some passengers around.”

Not everyone is buying Fernandes’ explanation, however.

“Good choice you won’t miss your flight now!” quipped one user. Another wrote: “Don’t lie Tony. Even you don’t wanna fly airasia.”

“Lol you had to take @singaporeair because of the seat quality given on your own company @flyairasia,” another user wrote.

Fernandes may well think all publicity is good publicity, given he posted a shirtless picture of himself getting a massage at work on LinkedIn. “Got to love Indonesia and AirAsia culture that I can have a massage and do a management meeting,” he wrote in October.

The since-deleted post sparked debate over whether it was appropriate, with some users slamming it as unprofessional and uncomfortable.

Fernandes took the helm at AirAsia in 2001 after acquiring the then-failing airline from the Malaysian government. Under his management, it became Asia’s fourth-largest airline until the pandemic struck and sparked the bankruptcy of its Japan and Thai operations.

For the past 14 years, the airline has been named the world’s best low-cost carrier by the airline review site Skytrax.

AirAsia did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.