AirAsia Supremo and newly-appointed Universiti Malaya Adjunct Professor Tony Fernandes may now make waves in academia, as in aviation, as the God of Marketing in Asia!
Commentary And Analysis . . . The AirAsia Group, under Supremo Tony Fernandes has probably never been solvent from Day One but the proverbial creative accounting strategies, for want of better term, kept it going for eternity. Haters headed for the toilet bowl for that infamous dip. We apologise for coming across as being perhaps too much this time and having probably gone too far. Let’s face it. We call a spade, a spade.
The proof of the pudding lies in the eating. It may be cliche but there’s nothing that succeeds like success. The true test of leadership arises from exercising the right of reply and speaking up and speaking out on matters of public concern and matters of public interest.
Group CEO and newly-appointed Universiti Malaya Adjunct Professor Tan Sri Tony Fernandes may now make waves in academia, as in aviation, as the God of Marketing in Asia. Tony Fernandes, universally admired before the pandemic as the one who can do no wrong, has now become the most hated man — in his own words in social media — over ticket refund and other issues, and perhaps not entirely his fault. Insurance companies fall back on “act of God” as the perennial scapegoat when evading paying up.
Let him who was with no sin cast the first stone.
Tony Fernandes and AirAsia
The Malaysian government, allegedly in a fit of madness, nearly destroyed the AirAsia Group but something about Sabah and Sarawak may have held it back. Tony Fernandes, it can be argued, has become the man the people generally most love to hate. However, there was life saver as AirAsia passengers in Sabah and Sarawak remain loyal. The haters, the word used by Tony Fernandes, could not be among the loyal passengers.
The government should in fact refund AirAsia passengers holding tickets which were never used. Instead, the court spared the airline. Tony Fernandes, if not for the government found wanting on the pandemic, could have flown them. The pandemic separated the men from the boys.
Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s immediate predecessors, were virtually groping in the dark on managing the pandemic.
Ismail Sabri only lifted lockdown after he realised that it would destroy the economy.
The hospitality industry collapsed nationwide and imploded. Chief Minister Shafie Apdal allegedly made it worse in Sabah. In March 2020, he banned all flights from China which provided the bulk of Sabah’s tourist traffic. The Chinese, Koreans and Japanese love Sabah. They spend weeks there and take over the supermarkets which have special sections for them.
Sarawak, like Sabah, struggled with the pandemic.
Method In Madness
AirAsia’s legendary “insolvency” status may have been the pre-pandemic “method in madness” strategy designed for keeping the politicians and bureaucrats at bay. That strategy wasn’t needed post-pandemic. AirAsia was doing a good job of destroying itself but inadvertently reinvented itself at the same time. It was Vishnu the Preserver watching out for Siva the Destroyer. Tony Fernandes, in the form of Brahma the Creator, watched as AirAsia bounced back again and again.
The AirAsia Group allegedly lurched from bankruptcy to bankruptcy under various guises while Tony Fernandes and his partner, both holding combined 20 per cent of public stock under Tune Air, became super duper billionaires. Tony Fernandes and partner hold equal shares in Tune Air. One can only sell the shares to the other.
AirAsia’s share price may not be worth even the price of the certificate, its dividends if any virtually long non-existent. That’s the public perception allegedly viralled by those who love hating Tony Fernandes. The truth on the share prices, dividends, profits, rights issues, warrants and bonds may be, as usual, somewhere in between.
The Group would probably go private soon at a song, taking the cue from Maxis, before seeking public listing again for capitalisation purposes, the catchall phrase that gets the market excited for no rhyme or reason. Merchant bankers have the almighty ringgit sign in the eyes. We stand corrected if proven that all this has been made up as form of CNN-style story telling. Rest assured that we are no fans of Christianne Amanpour the Great CNN International Liar who keeps starting stories in the middle for nothing but even more great lies. Someone, we won’t say who, called Amanpour Great Liar on prime time cable TV.
Capital A (A for asshole according to Tony Fernandes explaining one person describing him as Capital A) came under PN 17, wrote off RM64b with permission of the court, and returned after pumping in RM30b which allegedly came from the RM64b. That’s recipe for disorientation, confusion and chaos. Even the universe, the only predictable property being chaos, fled in sheer terror. Karma — the law of cause and effect — was turned on its head for the first since it was discovered by ancient India.
RM1 Unpaid
Still, the airline has grown incredibly large and bags prizes every year in every category. It has had awards coming out of the ears ever since it started with two small planes for RM1 up front and RM20m debt after takeover of the trouble stricken airline. Tony Fernandes, in one interview, doesn’t recall paying the RM1. It’s probably the thought that counts.
AirAsia bought and sold many businesses even remotely linked with its line of business.
AirAsia, unlike perenially bankrupt Malaysia Airlines under so many names, does not make money from selling tickets. The tickets may start at zero fares and climb every ten tickets, the last ten tickets being still cheaper than that sold by Malaysia Airlines and other carriers.
Tony Fernandes remains about asset management i.e. buying as many aircraft as possible, paying up as soon as advance ticket sale monies come in and selling them for profit. Bookings are also transferred at US$5m each.
AirAsia, contrary to public perceptions, owns no aircraft but leases them from sister company. Another company does maintenance, service and repairs. The business relationships are openly incestuous.
Again, AirAsia sells tickets in advance, perhaps two years ahead, and uses these funds for aircraft bookings. The aircraft are needed for making good on the advance ticket sales.
Hidden Agenda
It must stressed again that those who complain about the airline and Tony Fernandes are often not the passengers. They, no fans of meritocracy, come with Hidden Agenda driven by xenophobia, prejudice and hate.
It’s said that passengers never complain about AirAsia because the fares are so cheap. Beggers can’t be choosers and/or complainers.
God Of Marketing
Tony Fernandes, at Universiti Malaya, can best focus on being “the God of Marketing in Asia”. He can play no other role.
In hindsight, it was slow government indulging in ignorance and ventilating it, that did number on Tony Fernandes. There was inability for learning from mistakes. The level of intelligence could not increase.
The government, petrified by virus related hospitalisations, inadvertently mismanaged the pandemic. It bankrupted so many companies and almost destroyed the hospitality industry, aviation and the economy. In India, those infected by the virus brought by the pandemic were not hospitalised unless they needed the ventilator. They were given two cylinders of oxygen and advised on recovering in isolation at home.
Tony Fernandes may have in fact done grave wrongs before the pandemic but many things may have been glossed over, forgiven and forgotten.
Passage From India
India reportedly readied arrest warrant for him and at least two others from Malaysia on unrelated case. Tony Fernandes sold AirAsia India and vowed never again. The Tata Group missed him but others in India cheered Tony Fernandes’ departure. He made them look bad. AirAsia could never understand the corruption and politics in India. It looked too much like the defunct Malaysian Airlines which kicked out Tony Fernandes and another director from AirAsia.
It’s said that at AirAsia, no matter who comes and goes at the airline, everything remains the same. Even directors have come and gone.
The choice in the Malaysian aviation sector has always remained the same viz. between the lesser and greater evil.
Lesser Evil
Malaysian, especially those in Sabah and Sarawak, invariably choose the lesser evil i.e. airline which provides value for money. Tony Fernandes may have blank cheque in Malaysia on aviation while carpet bombing the region with his charms.
Now, Universiti Malaya has fallen for him. Let’s see how long that lasts. Management guru Peter Drucker cautions that “everyone, sooner or later, reaches his or her level of incompetence”. Perish the negativity. It won’t be surprising if Tony Fernandes eyes the Pro-Chancellor’s position before long and sets alarm bells ringing. He doesn’t have time as Vice-Chancellor. The media has reported that he owns a British public school in Malaysia. — NMH
Related Internal links on Sabah and Sarawak . . .
Longtime Borneo watcher Joe Fernandez has been writing for many years on both sides of the Southeast Asia Sea. He should not be mistaken for a namesake formerly with the Daily Express in Kota Kinabalu. JF keeps a Blog under FernzTheGreat on the nature of human relationships.
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