Headline, November24, 2013

''' MALAYSIA'S DARE TO DREAM : 

MAGMA '''

What's genuinely remarkable about this great nation is that it has changed its people's lives for the betters, by allowing them to: ''Fly On A Budget''.

And what also and truly remarkable is that this boom owes so much to a single charismatic pioneer: Anthony Francis Fernandes.

He took over Malaysia's then ailing AirAsia in 2001 and relaunched it as a no-frills airline in the mold of Ireland's Ryanair.

Fernandes transformed Asia-Pacific air by introducing the low-cost concept and pushing countries to free up their Airline markets. After AirAsia blazed the trail, some two dozen other budget carriers followed, both new stand-alones and low cost subsidiaries of full-service carriers.

Yet the original still flies higher. Today AirAsia is the region's low-cost carrier, with nearly over 8000  employees,  100 planes, and 140 routes -including 40 that....... no airline had served before. 

From its hubs in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, AirAsia flies throughout Southeast Asia, to numerous cities in China and India, and longhaul to South Korea, Japan, the Middle East, Australia and Europe. 

The company estimates that up to half its passengers are first-time fliers.

Intercontinental flights helped the AirAsia group pass the 100 million passenger mark about and around last October. Other boosts have come from........... ''occasional free-ticket'' campaigns, giving away up to ''a million seats at a time''. These promotions have helped the sales.

AirAsia-com has now become Asia's second-biggest E-commerce site in terms of both visitors and sales volume.

But whether it's Web stats, industry awards or sheer sales in a hotly contested marketplace, AirAsia stands out as one of the Southeast Asia's very vew big corporations earning world recognition, without relying on political connection, government concession, or protected market.

''Dare to Dream,'' is one of Fernandes' slogans. ''We took on a government airline and won,'' he says, referring to Malaysia Airlines.

These new travelers have turned Fernandes into a bona fide celebrity, approaching him in shopping malls and airports for ''autographs''. Rarely seen without his trademark red baseball cap and ready grin, he welcomes the attention, not least to relieve stress:

''It's a very depressing business, the airline business, with all the politics, all the rubbish, volcanoes.'' he says. 

''But if I want to get a high, I just walk down to the terminal, and see the numbers of people who want to take photographs with me. It's not the vanity part. It's that we have genuinely changed people's lives by allowing them to travel.............

Regularly an old man will come up to me and say:  'I never thought I would be in a plane before I died, but now I can be.' OR 'Now I can go home and see where I was born.'

Ever the risk taker, Tony Fernandes' expensive move to launch his own Formula One Team some years ago has begun to pay off too. The 2010 Grand Prix season put him on the winning end of a friendly bet with his former boss, Richard Branson, over whose F1 Team would do better.

So the owner of  Virgin Airlines will dress up as a  -stewardess-  to serve passengers on a special AirAsia flight , with seats auctioned to benefit charity.

In rounding off,.........., this great man, turns ruminative and philosophic:

''Growing up I had a lot of happy times in airports. I told my parents that one day I wanted to own an Airline. My father said, 'If you can make it past the doorman at the Hilton Hotel, I'll be vary happy.'

Never mind. ''I'm very lucky. I've been involved in everything I am passionate about. Sports. Formula One. The Asian Basketball League. Music. Aviation. Education. So, I am a lucky man.

So I could say that if I get hit by a bus tomorrow, I'd have zero regrets. I'm happy. I would have done a lot of what I said and thought I was going to do.''

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of Malaysia. See Ya all on the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

''' !!! Formula For Fun !!! '''

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless