ID :
152145
Fri, 12/03/2010 - 14:19
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/152145
The shortlink copeid
FORBES ASIA NAMES TONY FERNANDES BUSINESSMAN OF THE YEAR
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 (Bernama) -- Forbes Asia has named AirAsia Group's
pioneering chief executive officer, Tony Fernandes as its 2010 Businessman of
the Year.
Forbes said in a statement that the 46-year old Fernandes, a former record
company executive, took over Malaysia's then-ailing AirAsia in 2001 and
relaunched it as a no-frills airline that has now become Southeast Asia's
hottest global brands.
Today, AirAsia has become the region's largest low-cost carrier, with nearly
8,000 employees, 100 planes and 140 routes, including 40 that no airline had
served before.
Its Malaysia-listed parent company, AirAsia Bhd, saw first-half revenue grow 18
per cent year-on-year to US$562 million, while net profits grew 24 per cent to
US$131 million.
Commenting on the award being conferred on Fernandes, Tim Ferguson, Editor,
Forbes Asia, said that the competition was tough, including from leaders of
Forbes Asia’s Fabulous 50 companies.
"Although several mainland Chinese entrepreneurs fully came into their own this
year, in general they are still excelling in a single national market that is
subject to domestic booms and busts. Fernandes is expanding his business
outward," he said.
Fernandes's improbable route to the airline industry started with
Tupperware. At the age of six, he began his career playing the piano for guests at
sales parties hosted by his mother, an entrepreneurial-minded music teacher who
launched the plasticware company's direct-marketing business in Malaysia.
Working the national Tupperware circuit was an education in marketing. And it
exposed young Fernandes to the world of commercial aviation.
"I had a lot of happy times in airports. I told my parents that one day I wanted
to own an airline. My father told me if I can make it past the doorman at the
Hilton Hotel, he will be very happy," Forbes quoted Fernandes as saying.
Funded by his mother's plasticware sales, Fernandes flew to England at the age
of 12 for boarding school at Surrey's Epsom College.
One lasting lesson was the prohibitive cost of a ticket home between semesters.
So he spent holidays in London, mostly at Heathrow Airport.
"I was a bit of a planespotter. My friends and I used to stand on top of the
Queen's Building, Car Park 2, and just watch planes land," he said.
The launch of Europe's first no-frills carrier, Skytrain, by Sir Freddy Laker
also inspired Fernandes.
And after spending 14 years in the music industry -- first in London as
financial controller at Richard Branson's Virgin Group, then in Kuala Lumpur as
head of Warner Music's Southeast Asia operations, he ventured into the airline
business here.
In 2007, Fernandes launched Tune Hotels, billed as "five-star rooms at one-star
prices."
Behind the hotels stands the privately held Tune Group, which expanded into Tune
Talk, Tune Money, Tune Sports, Fernandes' own Formula One team, Lotus Racing,
and it's rolling out Southeast Asia's first international professional
basketball league, The Asean Basketball League.
Fernandes' philanthropic projects also include a Malaysian branch of Epsom
College.
"Generally Asia is about being the biggest, the best, the swankiest, the
tallest, the richest. This is where Asian businesses have missed out.
"The cream is in the 65 million other people who don't have a chance to fly, who
don't have credit cards or insurance. I always saw the masses," he said.
pioneering chief executive officer, Tony Fernandes as its 2010 Businessman of
the Year.
Forbes said in a statement that the 46-year old Fernandes, a former record
company executive, took over Malaysia's then-ailing AirAsia in 2001 and
relaunched it as a no-frills airline that has now become Southeast Asia's
hottest global brands.
Today, AirAsia has become the region's largest low-cost carrier, with nearly
8,000 employees, 100 planes and 140 routes, including 40 that no airline had
served before.
Its Malaysia-listed parent company, AirAsia Bhd, saw first-half revenue grow 18
per cent year-on-year to US$562 million, while net profits grew 24 per cent to
US$131 million.
Commenting on the award being conferred on Fernandes, Tim Ferguson, Editor,
Forbes Asia, said that the competition was tough, including from leaders of
Forbes Asia’s Fabulous 50 companies.
"Although several mainland Chinese entrepreneurs fully came into their own this
year, in general they are still excelling in a single national market that is
subject to domestic booms and busts. Fernandes is expanding his business
outward," he said.
Fernandes's improbable route to the airline industry started with
Tupperware. At the age of six, he began his career playing the piano for guests at
sales parties hosted by his mother, an entrepreneurial-minded music teacher who
launched the plasticware company's direct-marketing business in Malaysia.
Working the national Tupperware circuit was an education in marketing. And it
exposed young Fernandes to the world of commercial aviation.
"I had a lot of happy times in airports. I told my parents that one day I wanted
to own an airline. My father told me if I can make it past the doorman at the
Hilton Hotel, he will be very happy," Forbes quoted Fernandes as saying.
Funded by his mother's plasticware sales, Fernandes flew to England at the age
of 12 for boarding school at Surrey's Epsom College.
One lasting lesson was the prohibitive cost of a ticket home between semesters.
So he spent holidays in London, mostly at Heathrow Airport.
"I was a bit of a planespotter. My friends and I used to stand on top of the
Queen's Building, Car Park 2, and just watch planes land," he said.
The launch of Europe's first no-frills carrier, Skytrain, by Sir Freddy Laker
also inspired Fernandes.
And after spending 14 years in the music industry -- first in London as
financial controller at Richard Branson's Virgin Group, then in Kuala Lumpur as
head of Warner Music's Southeast Asia operations, he ventured into the airline
business here.
In 2007, Fernandes launched Tune Hotels, billed as "five-star rooms at one-star
prices."
Behind the hotels stands the privately held Tune Group, which expanded into Tune
Talk, Tune Money, Tune Sports, Fernandes' own Formula One team, Lotus Racing,
and it's rolling out Southeast Asia's first international professional
basketball league, The Asean Basketball League.
Fernandes' philanthropic projects also include a Malaysian branch of Epsom
College.
"Generally Asia is about being the biggest, the best, the swankiest, the
tallest, the richest. This is where Asian businesses have missed out.
"The cream is in the 65 million other people who don't have a chance to fly, who
don't have credit cards or insurance. I always saw the masses," he said.
