SINGAPORE – One of the best-known names in global aviation is preparing to step back from the front lines.

Tony Fernandes, the larger-than-life character credited with revolutionising budget air travel in Asia, plans to focus more on areas such as health, education and private equity. 

The 58-year-old Malaysian would be moving on as the industry emerges from Covid. Like other carriers, AirAsia, the group he founded, was floored by the pandemic. It is no longer quite the empire it once was, having closed down ventures in Japan and India, but still operates airlines out of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, and plans a Cambodia launch. 

“Good leadership is to know when to go,” he said in a recent interview in Singapore. “Aviation as my journey might be coming to an end. I’ve got to talk about succession planning. Exactly when I press the button, I don’t know, but I want to talk about it because I want to attract the right leaders.” 

Rapid growth

Mr Fernandes, who grew up in Malaysia and Britain, dived into airlines in his mid-30s, buying AirAsia from a government-owned conglomerate in September 2001 for a solitary Malaysian ringgit, about US$0.30 at the time. 

After starting out with just two planes, AirAsia rebranded as a low-cost, no-frills carrier in January 2002, offering flights in Malaysia for as little as US$3, and in some promotional cases, even for free. By early 2004, it was flying from Kuala Lumpur to a handful of international destinations and soon established regional carriers like AirAsia Thailand.

With the motto “Now Everyone Can Fly,” AirAsia’s red-and-white planes became a popular choice for jetting to places such as Bangkok, Singapore, Jakarta and Phnom Penh. The cheap tickets helped supercharge a boom in flying in the region, feeding the needs of a growing middle class wanting to travel and cutting out long boat journeys between thousands of islands. 

“Tony was the first to exploit the market for discount flying,” said Shukor Yusof, founder of aviation consultancy Endau Analytics, who first met Mr Fernandes at an AirAsia event at the Intercontinental Hotel in Singapore in 2002. “His contribution in making low-cost carriers a way to fly in this region is huge.” 

Mr Fernandes has been the face of the company, a high-profile figure with a range of interests – from co-owning a Formula One team and a London-based football club, to hosting an Asian version of hit TV show The Apprentice. 

“Tony’s impact has been to demonstrate the importance of branding, as well as the key element of being the first mover,” said Tim Bacchus, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence in Hong Kong. “It is fair to characterise Fernandes as a true pioneer of LCCs in Asia and someone who had the vision to bring the model to this part of the world, making air travel more affordable to many.” 

Now, Mr Fernandes aims to channel some of his experience with AirAsia elsewhere.

“I like private equity with an active management and helping young people change things,” he told Bloomberg News. “I believe there’s a low-cost model for education and health. These are the two things that discriminate (against) people the most.”

As for who will take the reins at AirAsia, he said he would prefer someone from within the company and South-east Asia, at the heart of the airline’s operations, though he did not rule anything out. 

“Honestly, I don’t care where they are from,” he said. “We don’t really talk about race, religion, sex, sexual orientation – I don’t care, as long as you can do the job.”