Tony Fernandes
Tony Fernandes
Tan Sri Anthony Francis "Tony" Fernandes, CBEis a Malaysian entrepreneur. He is the founder of Tune Air Sdn. Bhd., who introduced the first budget no-frills airline, AirAsia, to Malaysians with the tagline "Now everyone can fly". Fernandes managed to turn AirAsia, a failing government-linked commercial airline, into a highly successful budget airline public-listed company. He has since founded the Tune Group of companies...
NationalityMalaysian
ProfessionEntrepreneur
Date of Birth30 April 1964
CityKuala Lumpur, Malaysia
CountryMalaysia
We have some teething issues but other than that everything is great.
I think high oil prices will sort out the efficient and non-efficient players in the airline industry,
Both of us working together will win big-time. With so much global competition, it really makes sense to combine our strength.
It was strange when I first came to the airline. The pilots freaked out because they suddenly saw their CEO pushing the ladder (to the plane),
It's a dream come true for us. A few years ago we were just a two-plane operation and now we have our own home.
Watch out, Singapore, is all I have to say.
The pilots cannot get over the fact that I have a cup of coffee with the guys who carry the bags. My secretary will (even) go out and help clean the planes if we are running into a delay.
I don't know if every player in the Premier League feels hurt when they lose a game. The right sort is very important. I was naive in thinking that everyone was like me.
I came from the music business, which reputedly has the biggest egos, but I really think the airline world caps it.
Don't kid yourself that anyone in the Premier League is going to do you any favours.
When the music business failed to embrace the Internet, I thought it was game, set and match for the industry, and I quit.
I've lived in Jakarta and have seen a lot more by living here, and I understand that there's so much more to Indonesia than just Bali and Jakarta.
I think airlines have been very much parrots. They'll just follow what everyone else is doing. Why change a model that they're happy in? And it takes someone like myself or Richard Branson who comes from outside the industry to say, 'Hey, let's try something new.'
The music and airlines businesses are tough, but I've been successful in them.