Air Asia Summary

AirAsia Berhad  is a low-cost Malaysian airline based near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the largest airline in Malaysia in terms of fleet size and destination. AirAsia Group operates scheduled domestic and international flights to more than 165 destinations in 25 countries. Its main hub is klia2, a low-cost carrier terminal at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. 

Its associated airlines Thai AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia, Philippines AirAsia, AirAsia India and AirAsia Japan have hubs in Bangkok-Don Mueang, Jakarta-Soekarno-Hatta, Manila-Ninoy Aquino, Bengaluru (Bangalore)-Kempegowda and Nayoga-Chübu Centair airports, while its sister carrier, AirAsia X, focuses on long-haul flights. AirAsia's registered office is in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, while its headquarters are at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

AirAsia was founded in 1993 and began operations on 18 November 1996. It was founded by DRB-HICOM, a government-owned conglomerate.

On 8 September 2001, a heavily indebted airline was acquired by former Time Warner executive Tony Fernandes and Kamarudin Meranun business Tune Air Sdn Bhd for a nominal amount of one ringgit (about US$ 0.26 at the time) worth US$ 11 million (MYR 40 million) in debt. The partners turned the business around, making profits in 2002 and launching new routes from its Kuala Lumpur hub.

At the end of 2006, Fernandes launched a five-year strategy to further strengthen AirAsia's presence in Asia. Under the program, AirAsia proposed to improve its route network by linking all of its established destinations across the region and further expanding to Vietnam, Indonesia, Southern China (Kunming, Xiamen, Shenzhen) and India. Via its sister companies, Thai AirAsia and Indonesia AirAsia, the strategy called for a emphasis on the growth of its hub in Bangkok and Jakarta. With increased frequency and the introduction of new routes, AirAsia increased its passenger volume to 13.9 million in its fiscal year 2007.

During 2007, passengers from "The Barrier-Free Environment and Accessible Transport Group" protested against the airline's reluctance to fly passengers who were fully immobile. They argued that people with disabilities were discriminated against while booking flights online; the airline's CEO said that they would not turn away passengers in wheelchairs. On 27 September 2008, the company announced 106 new routes to be added to its list of 60. The number of old routes discontinued has not been reported. In August 2011, AirAsia agreed to form an alliance with Malaysia Airlines via a share swap. The partnership was terminated by the Malaysian government and the deal between the two airlines was cancelled.

The head office is the Red Quarters (RedQ) at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Selangor. The registered office is on level 13 of the Menara Prima Tower B in Petaling Jaya. The airline relocated its head office to a new 613,383 square feet (56,985.1 m2) building, RM140 thousand built at klia2 on 7 November 2016.Before the new head office was opened, the airline's head office remained at LCCT. The new klia2 headquarters is scheduled to open at the end of 2015.Approximately 2,000 employees of AirAsia and AirAsia X are scheduled to hold office. Aireen Omar, Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia Country Malaysia, stated that the headquarters had to be redesigned because the control tower had been changed in the klia2 plans. The construction of the facility was scheduled to begin in July 2014.

AirAsia China

In May 2017, China Everbright Group, the Henan Working Group and AirAsia Berhad have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a low-cost carrier in China as a joint venture. AirAsia China will be based in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, where the new low-cost carrier also plans to build a dedicated low-cost carrier terminal, an aviation training academy and a MRO facility.

However, the joint venture had lapsed in 2018 as the non-binding preliminary agreement was valid for 12 months and not renewed by related parties when it's expired.

AirAsia Vietnam

On 31 March 2017, AirAsia statement to the Malaysia Stock Exchange that they plan to establish a new budget airline in Vietnam in a joint venture with Vietnamese partners.

On 6 December 2018, AirAsia reaffirmed its intention to set up a joint-venture (JV) low-cost carrier in Vietnam by signing a memorandum of cooperation with Vietnamese partners - Thien Minh Travel Joint Stock Company and Hai Au Aviation Joint Stock Company. The joint venture expects to begin services in August 2019.

AirAsia India

In October 2012, Air Asia's management claimed that they were keen to have more presence in India if the aviation climate and the tax structure were favorable and friendly to low-cost airline operations. With the new Indian Government approving foreign direct investment of up to 49% in the aviation sector, airline CEO Tony Fernandes tweeted, "Fantastic news that India has opened up investments to international airlines." He said that it is now easier for him to set up an airline in India.[29] Tony Fernandes called a joint venture with Tata Sons. He said that the Tatas know India very well and that they have a strong reputation. Tie-up with the company will enable AirAsia to function efficiently.

AirAsia Japan

AirAsia and Japanese network airline All Nippon Airways announced their joint venture at a press conference in Tokyo on 21 July 2011. Following its establishment in August 2011, AirAsia Japan flew its first flight in August 2012.[40] AirAsia Japan became the first low-cost airline to fly at Narita International Airport. It was announced just months after the announcement by ANA of the establishment of Peach, a low-cost airline based at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, and a simultaneous attempt by Japan Airlines to set up a low-cost airline. ANA elected to partner with an existing low-cost airline for efficiency and strategic advantage.

AirAsia X

AirAsia X is AirAsia's long-haul service. The franchise is able to reduce costs by using a common ticketing system. AirAsia X is also affiliated with Virgin Group and Air Canada. On 17 May 2007, Tony Fernandes announced plans to launch flights from Malaysia to Australia. Fernandes said that because of its high fees, he would avoid Sydney Airport. Instead, the airline would concentrate on cheaper alternatives such as Melbourne's Avalon Airport, Williamtown Airport in Newcastle, and Adelaide Airport. Sustained fares were predicted to be around MYR 800 (A$285) for a return fare, plus taxes. As of June 2019, the fleet consists of 24 Airbus A330-300 aircraft, and the airline has 100 Airbus A330-900neo aircraft on order.

Indonesia AirAsia & Indonesia AirAsia X

Indonesia AirAsia operates scheduled domestic, international services and is an Indonesian associate carrier of Malaysian low-fare airline AirAsia. Its main base is Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta. Until July 2010, Indonesia Air Asia, along with many Indonesian airlines, was banned from flying to the EU due to safety concerns. However, the ban was lifted in July 2010.The airline was established as Awair in 1999 by Abdurrahman Wahid, former chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama Muslim organisation. Indonesia AirAsia X is a joint venture of AirAsia X. It serves Indonesia AirAsia's regularly scheduled long haul international flights from Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport. Indonesia AirAsia X launched its first flight to Taipei on 29 January 2015.ndonesian low-cost carrier Indonesia AirAsia looks set to cease operations as a standalone carrier, and be merged with sister AirAsia subsidiary, Indonesia AirAsia X.

On board

AirAsia offers “Santan” menu," a buy on board programme offering food and drinks for purchase. AirAsia is accredited by the KL Syariah Index of Bursa Malaysia, and in accordance with Shariah principles it does not serve alcohol or pork. However, this applies only to the regional AirAsia group flights, and not to the AirAsia X flights, which do sell wine and beer on board.

Frequent-flyer program

AirAsia is taking the first steps towards starting its own frequent-flyer programme. The airline has signed an agreement to start a joint venture with financial services firm Tune Money to launch a programme called "BIG". Under this programme it will issue loyalty points to AirAsia customers and third-party merchants. Points can then be used to redeem AirAsia flights.

1. The 2012 World Airline Awards at the Farnborough Airshow ranked the airline as the world's best low-cost airline.
2. AirAsia has been named as the world's best low-cost carrier for 11 years in a row including the latest award for the year 2019.

          After entirely analyzing the case study about Air Asia, these are what I can summarize. Air Asia was purchased by Tony Fernandes in a debt-ridden state for solely USD0.26. He made the buy in December 2001 amidst the downfall of airways at that time. Turns out his decision was the proper one because he managed to restructure AirAsia into the first, no-frills, affordable carrier (“LCC”) in Asia and becoming a large success. Air Asia is the number-one competitor of Malaysia Airlines (“MAS”). It has undertaken quite a few methods to remain on top of the business since its relaunch in January 2002.

          Some of the initiatives taken by Tony was to invite Connor McCarthy, the former director of a successful European LCC Ryanair, to be a part of AirAsia's executive team. They restructured AirAsia 's commercial enterprise model from the floor up and grew to become the first airline to introduce entirely ticketless tour and enforce a free seating coverage in 2001. They also adopted “Easy to Book, Easy to Pay & Easy to Fly" approach where seats can be purchased simply by means of phone reserving centre. Aside from KLIA, Air Asia had three different hubs to accommodate domestic flights. In 2004, they started out their venture into regional flight to neighbouring countries after acquiring its subsidiary company, Thai AirAsia and the hub set in Bangkok. Moreover, Indonesia AirAsia was formed in 2005 through the affiliation with Indonesian Airline and their hubs set in Jakarta and Bali. With this, Air Asia managed to end up becoming the largest domestic airline at that time.

          In 2007, Air Asia became the first airline to provide Value-Added Services such as internet check-in, online check-in , printing personal boarding passes and pre-booking checked baggage. In flight, passengers are given the option to opt for in-flight meals and souvenirs if they did not reserve them beforehand. Moving forward, Air Asia X was born in late 2007 and it was the sister company of Air Asia which provides long-haul worldwide flights. Different from Air Asia, Air Asia X offers two-class cabin, reserving seats in advance and full foods option. Beginning from Australia, Air Asia too explored ties with different airways in the west and Asia. As a result, they managed to expand their business to London in 2008 and China and India in 2009.

          Starting with a three-aircraft operation in 2002, AirAsia owned seventy two plane by  2008 and served over 100 routes in the Asia-Pacific region, with greater than 300 flights per day. Due to their relentless efforts such as advertising, sponsoring soccer club and participating in Tourism Malaysia, Air Asia became more and broadly regarded to many. This is especially true seeing that Tony himself was considered adorning the signature red cap and T-shirt, Lastly, they too acquired many accolades for their awesome performances between 2003 and 2008.

          In conclusion, I think Tony Fernandes is an excellent entrepreneur who made the right decisions by purchasing the Air Asia at the right time. He knew how to make the best of the opportunity until he is as successful as he is now. He was also well-informed when it comes to marketing and advertising and managed to utilize every single opportunity coming his way. All these has resulted in him being profitable in simply a few years compared to its main competitor which is Malaysian Airlines