air asia report

LEADERSHIP IN ORGANIZATION

TONY FERNANDEZ AIR ASIA CEO

PREPARED FOR

PROF. DR. P R BHATT

PREPARED BY

SHAHRIN MOHAMED NASIR 805513

NOR AFIZAH ABD SAMAD 806578

NORHASHIMA MOHD HASHIM 807438

Leadership in Organization – Tony Fernandez

2

TONY FERNANDEZ: Air Asia

Malaysians had been used to having only one airline, MAS. When AirAsia came into the

picture all of a sudden, people were understandably sceptical. They doubted the viability of

this new player, a small-time budget airline.

When AirAsia first leapt onto the scene, many smiled and gave it three months to announce

its closure due to bankruptcy or the inability to stand up to the big boys or to some other

excuses. The market also believed that AirAsia could only expand by setting up more hubs

in regional cities and continuing to add new routes, all within the three hours radius.

When AirAsia held its first press conference, one reporter asked a question that effectively

conveyed the pessimistic sentiment of the market towards the launch of the budget

airline:‖Will you survive the first three months?‖

AirAsia took off, just as Tony had said it would. The airline was re-launched in January

2002, with only three aircraft and a seat-mile cost that was half that of the national carrier,

Malaysia Airlines.

The fare from Kuala Lumpur to Penang was only RM39, lower than the cost of bus tickets at

RM40. Malaysians loved it and they loved it more when AirAsia embarked on an aggressive

campaign to draw passengers by giving away free tickets.

After only seven months in operation, the airline announced great news in December 2002:

RM113 million in revenue, RM19.4 million in profit, 1.1 million passengers and the majority

of outstanding balances settled.

Initially, Tony and his team of backers had thought they were going to lose RM26 million,

but they end up gaining about RM20 million in just seven months.


3

Within two years, Fernandes proved the critics wrong and was able to turn AirAsia into a

profit-making company modelled after the successful operations of the United States-based

Southwest Airlines, Dublin-based Ryanair and United Kingdom-based Virgin Air. AirAsia

was listed in the Kuala Lumpur bourse within three years of operation, on 22 November

2004, with one of the largest IPO offer of RM717.4 million (AirAsia, 2008). In addition,

AirAsia won many accolades including certification by Superbrands International. For his

achievements, Fernandes was awarded the Best Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young

Entrepreneur Award in 2006 (AirAsia, 2008).

In March 2006, AirAsia‘s passenger load expanded to such a capacity that a new low-cost

terminal (LCCT) was built for it. This LCCT can accommodate 10 million passengers

annually and has 30 parking bays for the aircrafts (AirAsia, 2008).

The expansion was constant over those first few years. It remained a domestic-only airline

until 2003 when a second hub at Johor Bahru also began staging flights to Bangkok. AirAsia

later expanded its services to locations in Indonesia, China (including Macau), Vietnam,

Cambodia and the Philippines. Even as the world economy has soured, the airline and its

subsidiaries have grown to add Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and even the United Kingdom

(pictured) to its route map.

Throughout all of this, and still today, Fernandes plays a hands-on role. Indeed, he says,

having that direct connection with staff and operations allows him to make dynamic and

effective decisions as they are needed. ―I see to it that I understand how the various

departments work and what better way to do this than to go ‗hands-on‘,‖ he says. ―I‘ve seen

firsthand how guests and our staff interact, and experience in this has led to improvements in

various areas including HR policies.‖

So great was AirAsia's impact that analysts said the airline, with its minimal fares, was living

up to its tag line which said 'Now Everyone can Fly.


4

Background of Dato’ Tony Fernandes

Tony was born in Malaysia in 1964. He attended boarding school in the UK in 1977, and

ended up staying on in England for 13 years.

Quite the sportsman, Tony relished cricket, football and squash. His passion was cricket, and

he aspired to become a professional cricket player, but did not quite make the cut. He studied

accounting and became an auditor instead, after graduating from the London School of

Economics (LSE) in 1987.

The job however proved too boring for his adventurous spirit and he gave it up after only six

months. He looked for something a little more exciting, and set his sights on the music

industry. Indeed, Tony has always loved music. He is an amateur guitarist and enjoys

playing the keyboard and the drums.

After turning his back on auditing, Tony sent his resume to record companies. He got a job

in the finance section of Virgin‘s television department. He was there for two years, from

1987 to 1989, when he moved to Warner Music International London as senior Financial

Analyst, a post he held until 1992.

Tony was transferred to Malaysia as General Manager of Warner Malaysia. Within six

months, at the age of 28, he was appointed Managing Director, becoming the youngest

candidate in the company‘s history to hold the post.


5

In August 1996, he became Regional Managing Director ASEAN, holding the post until

December 1999, when he rose to the post of Vice President of Warner Music Southest Asia.

He held this post until July 2001.

Tony had an amazing childhood. It was an interesting life. His mother was a very right-wing

capitalist, and his father very left-wing in contrast.

His mother was a great influence on him. ―My mum was an amazing woman. She used to go

around Malaysia selling Tupperware. It was an amazing life growing up with her. There was

one time when nearly 600 women were gathered in one place and going crazy selling

Tupperware, while I was playing the piano sitting on the yellow pages (for height), with my

mother getting the women to sing some songs.‖

Tony admires his mother, who also used to compose her own songs, so much that there are

only compliments in his remembrances of her. ―My mother could sell ice to an Eskimo. She

was an amazing woman, and I learnt a lot from her.‖

When age died, she left a big void in Tony‘s life. ―She died when I was fifteen. It was very

hard because when she died, I was in boarding school in England. But I had to move on and

cope with it. I think my mother was a major influence in my life.‖

Then there was his father, a communist doctor who did not believe in private medicine. ―My

father was a very good man. When he started his clinic, he did all this social work, and then

a few years before he died, he said he wanted to go into private medicine. So he bought a

clinic, called Clinic Hope, in Sungai Besi, and all his friends called it ‗the last hope‘,‖ say

Tony with a big smile.

―Every month I was giving money to him, and I was like thinking, what kind of clinic is this?

All the others doctors make so much money, but not my father. So I asked my staff to go and

take a look at what was happening at the clinic.‖

Six hours later, the report reached him: ―Your father is a great guy, i salute him....‖ When

Tony asked why the clinic seemed to be losing so much money, the answer was, ―Oh, he

gives out medicines for free.‖


6

That meant, of course, that Tony was subsidising all his father‘s patients, without meaning to!

His father was indeed a good man, and Tony respects him for his well-meaning, generous

heart.

―I had a great childhood, a very enjoyable childhood,‖ Tony concludes with satisfaction.

Achievement

Fernandes has received several awards for his outstanding achievements:

1. International Herald Tribune Award for the "Visionaries & Leadership Series", for

his outstanding work in AirAsia;

2. "Malaysian CEO of the Year 2003" in December 2003 — a highly acclaimed

recognition, so far awarded to only nine other recipients in the country, by American

Express and Business Times. The award was an initiative to recognize entrepreneurial

and managerial expertise and performance among leaders of Malaysian corporations.

3. Named the joint winner of the CEO of the Year 2003 award by American Express

Corporate Services and Business Times .

4. "Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year®" in the Ernst & Young "Entrepreneur Of The

Year Awards" in 2003;

5. Made the list of Business Week's "25 Stars of Asia" in 2005.

6. "Malaysian Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2006"

7. Fernandes has also been honoured by the Malaysian government with title Dato.


7

AirAsia Background

AirAsia, initially a national carrier, was established by DRB-Hicom Bhd in late 1996. It was

birthed along with an ambitious expansion plan, but those plans were rudely curtailed when

Tan Sri Yahaya Ahmad, the former owner of DRB-Hicom, died in a helicopter crash in

March 1997. The conglomerate was thrown into a management crisis and things even

bleaker when the Asian financial crisis hit the region at the same time. AirAsia lost money

and went into debt.

Tony Fernandez was Vice President of Times Warner Music Southeast Asia. As a music

guy, Tony knew nothing about aviation or how to run an airline company, so he lost no time

in getting help from an executive at GE Capital Aviation Services to brief him on how the

airline industry works.

That connection led to a meeting with Conor McCarthy, former Chief Operating Officer at

Ryanair in 2001. However, McCarthy turned down the proposal. Tony and the team, drafted

a new plan based on budget airlines around the world and adapted the model to suit

operations in Malaysia, then they met with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia‘s Prime

Minister at the time to propose this exciting new venture.

The outcome was positive, but the prime Minister was clear that Tony would have to acquire

an existing airline as the government would not issue a licence for a new one. According to

Fernandes, it is not easy to sell the idea of operating an airline particularly to the government.


8

In fact, his request for a license to operate from the government was rejected on two previous

attempts.

Eventually, Tune Air Sdn Bhd, literally for a song, was formed by Tony Fernandes and four

entrepreneurs, some of whom had worked with the music industry which perhaps inspired the

name of the company took over AirAsia from DRB-Hicom on 8th December 2001 for RM1,

together with its two Boeing 737-300s, a tiny route network and nearly RM40 million in

debts. By that time, Tony had resigned from Times Warne and sold his share options for

USD70 per share. He had also mortgaged his house to help finance the acquisition of

AirAsia.

Dearly anticipated

The airline grew steadily in 2004. AirAsia‘s march towards a listing on Main Board Of

Malaysia Stock Exchange was consolidated by the fact that it already had 22 routes from

KLIA, another five from Senai and 10 from Bangkok, both domestic and regional. On 22nd

November 2004, AirAsia became an officialy listed company. It had achieved another

milestone, after its seven month legendary turnaround

The September 11 terrorist attacks in the New York cast a shadow on the aviation industry

that lingers on until today. The bombings in Bali and Phuket did not help either and neither


9

SARS and the bird flu. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq caused oil prices to surge to

unbelievably high levels, as well as insurance premiums to escalate. These difficulties

knocked down passenger volume for many airlines around the globe, AirAsia being no

exception.

Tony Fernandes however, saw opportunity for the airline industry after the 9/11 tragedy.

Expecting a significant number of layoffs within the industry, he knew where hiss pool

readily-available, highly experienced staff was going to come from. The cost of aircraft

leasing also went down by 40 per cent, leading to huge savings for AirAsia.

The concept of low-cost service

Tony loves the concept of low-cost service. He believes that AirAsia has set a trend that

many other services providers can follow to provide quality service and expand their markets

at the same time.

―You have to make sure you have the right people, focus and discipline. With AirAsia X,

they wanted to put in-flight entertainment, i said no way, because it‘ll waste money.‖

In flight entertainment would cost the company nearly RM5 million, which the airline would

not be able to recover. ―Most of our flights are only seven to eight hours anyway. Just bring

a book and hold your boyfriend‘s hand for longer.‖

Not only waste money, it is also a kind of discipline in running the business. He explains that

it is pointless to do something just because everyone else is doing it. A service provider‘s


10

success rests on being able to give the client what he really wants. ―The biggest, most

important thing to my passengers is the low fare. Being on time, being safe and efficient are

important. The rest are really added frills...I don‘t want to do that. So discipline is

important.‖

―ASEAN has got 600 million people, while America has only a 350 million population, and

Europe, 300 million. And that does not include India and China. Look at Shen Zhen, that is

the route that has never really been done before. Within two weeks, we have been full every

day, and we are adding a second flight. There is huge potential.‖ Says Tony

The internet is a key tool in AirAsia‘s low-cost business. Tony remembers how people

laughed when he announced that AirAsia would sell products through the Internet. Now,

however 75 per cent of AirAsia and Tune group customers do business with the companies

through the internet.

The best thing about doing business through the Internet is that it does not require a lot of

investment. ―We put a lot into technology development. Like buying into mobile phone and

self-service check in, but in relation to capital expenditure of planes or engineering spare

parts, it‘s tiny,‖ he adds.

The plus for AirAsia is that it does not own the technology. Tony elaborates, ―I don‘t believe

in owning technology. Like you buy a mobile phone, one year later it‘s out of date. So it‘s

better to rent. Our strategy from day one is not to own, but to rent.‖


11

The power of Branding

Tony Fernandes believes in the power of branding. He once claimed to be the ―most

accessible CEO‖ around, as every media group had his mobile phone number. Although he

does not answer calls all the time, being busy at meetings or travelling, he does reply via

SMS to media questions. It helps that the media can contact him directly as there are times

when his own marketing and promotions people do not know where he is, as Tony is always

on the go.

―People haven‘t really understood why I‘m sponsoring Formula one teams or Manchester

unite. If you to be a global player, you have to tell the world about yourself.‖

The SARS outbreak in Asia impacted regional tourism in a very negative way. AirAsia was

only three years old at the time. Tony noticed tha the malay press did not cover the outbreak

as widely as the Chinese press did, and so he began advertising heavily in the Malays

newspaper.


12

By advertising the airline‘s services when other airlines were quiet, Tony got AirAsia noticed

by ardent travellers. Tony himself is a walking advertisement for AirAsia, appearing in

public on all official occasions in his AirAsia cap and T-shirt. Tony once joked at an

interview that people only recognised him because of the cap he was wearing, adding that

―...if I take off this cap, you will see me as just another Indian guy!‖

Tony believes branding should be an inside-out exercise. He has spent half his time on

internal branding, as he knows that a company need to be able to sell its services to its own

people first before it can be successfully approach outsiders.

Equal Opportunity

To motivate staff, Air Asia offers the opportunity to every qualifying permanent staff, from

bag handlers to flight attendants, to become pilots after thorough training at its flight

academy. Trainees are not bound by any rules to devote all their time to the airline. One

Thai pilot cadet, Chanaporn Rosjan, in fact participated in a local beauty pageant and went on

to win becoming Miss Thailand 2005.

Fernandes has created a culture of teamwork, equality and constant communication.

AirAsia‘s headquarters at the Kuala Lumpur Low-Cost Carrier Terminal is staunchly open-


13

plan. ―No staff, not even myself, have an individual office.‖ This aims to ensure staff of all

levels are continually in contact with each other, enhancing the opportunities for innovative

thinking and creative ideas.

Fernandes says that constant focus on innovation has been the airline‘s main weapon against

the economic downturn. ―All of us here are fully aware that if we don‘t innovate and come up

with creative solutions, AirAsia is in trouble.‖

Building a team

Building a unique culture starts at the recruitment stage. It‘s something Fernandes takes a

close interest in as he continues to build on a successful team. ―We look for people who are

fun, friendly, smart, caring and innovative,‖ he says.

Diversity is also important. ―Hiring without prejudice against race and sex is in AirAsia‘s

DNA,‖ he says. As such, the airline was one of the first in Asia to hire female pilot crew.

Fernandes says he finds the gender imbalance of flight crews strange. ―I wonder why more

airlines won‘t cast their hiring net wide to include women,‖ he says, but notes that this is

something AirAsia has been able to take advantage of in labour markets. ―In a way that line

has been good for AirAsia as it means more in the talent pool for us to mine – you‘d be

surprised by the number of girls who dream of flying planes.‖

Male or female, and no matter what the designation, once staff are on board, Fernandes

actively encourages their creativity in a number of ways. As well as the open-plan offices,

ideas are actively shared through the organisation‘s HR policies, procedures and

communication platforms.

―We encourage (innovation) through an intranet that enables ideas, suggestions and critiques

to be swiftly shared throughout the company and a staff that‘s passionate and hard-working.‖

Fernandes says the innovation culture is not just about the big things. Even small ideas add

up. For a low-cost airline, turnaround time is a crucial element. The more time AirAsia planes

are in the air, the more revenue can be garnered. He says it is thanks to innovative procedures

and systems that the company is able to boast one of the fastest turnaround times in the world

– just 25 minutes.


14

He lays the credit for those successes squarely with his staff base. ―Our people are the ones

who deserve credit for helping us get to where we are today; and for pushing us to even

higher levels in the weeks and months ahead.‖

The company offers plenty in return. As well as competitive salary packaging and that

encouraging culture, Fernandes says opportunities to develop talent are what keeps AirAsia

staff sticking with the company. ―AirAsia believes in personal and professional growth,‖ he

says. ―Encouraging professional growth within the company is vitally important to keeping

happy, productive staff and staying ahead of business competitors.‖

To this end, all staff of all designations and levels are given training and development

opportunities. ―We do our best to help everyone in the team grow in their careers by offering

training programmes to help employees hone their skills; and by providing a challenging

work environment,‖ he says.

Fernandes and his senior managers also pay close attention to high potential talent throughout

the airline. ―We actively keep an eye out for talents we can develop. AirAsia benefits from

staffs that is confident and very much competent in its role in growing the airline.‖

A friend in need

Part of the AirAsia culture also centres on giving back to the communities in which the

airline serves. Since first taking on the airline, Fernandes has been a strong proponent of

corporate social responsibility (CSR) and has made sure the airline can stand tall in this

arena. But this is more than just doling out money or volunteer hours. As an airline, AirAsia

is in a unique position to make a real and immediate difference.

For example, Fernandes says aid workers are offered free transport to and from disaster areas

in the wake of natural calamities.

―AirAsia shares in the responsibility of promoting wellbeing in the world,‖ Fernandes says.

―When we help those affected by calamities, we share the burden of their loss and grief and

help them heal faster from these.‖


15

Fernandes says the focus on CSR is in line with his own philosophies of internal HR. ―At

AirAsia, it is an imperative that is practiced by our own internal policies: creating a

meritocracy, gender neutrality, and developing professionally skilled and socially-responsible

citizens.‖

Financial Facts

In financial year 2007, AirAsia earned RM498 million in net profit - a magnificent grow of

over 290 times from the earnings in the financial year 2002.

AIRASIA FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE FOR YEAR ENDED

30-Jun 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 1 H 2007

(RM million)

Revenue 217.0 330.0 392.0 666.0 1058.0 1603.0

Pretax profit/(loss) (1.6) 11.5 61.3 126.0 86.1 278.0

Net profit /(loss) (1.7) 18.8 49.0 112.0 202.0 498.0


16

AirAsia makes huge profits with its low fares which attract huge numbers of flyers.

However, ticket sales are not its only source of revenue. Here‘s a summary of AirAsia‘s

financial accounts for the year 2007:

12-months Ended: FY 2007 FY 2006 FY 2006 vs

30 June RM'000 (RM MILLION) (restated) FY 2006

Ticket Sales

1,494,115

996,470 50%

Ancillary income

109,146

61,637 77%

Revenue

1,603,261

1,058,107 52%

EBITDAR

490,026

253,926 93%

EBIT

280,593

117,620 139%

Pretax profit

278,048

86,174 223%

Net Income

498,057

201,702 147%

(including deferred tax assets)

EBITDAR margin 30.6% 24.0% 6.6ppt

Pretax profit margin 17.3% 8.1% 9.2ppt

Net Income margin 31.1% 19.1% 12.0ppt

From July 2006 to end of June 2007, AirAsia sold close to RM1.5 billion worth of tickets.

Ancillary Income derived from sources other than ticket sales. AirAsia‘s ancillary income

for 12 months ending June 2007 was a whopping RM109 million.

Where does this revenue come from? More places than we can think of. There is, of course,

the onboard meal that travellers have to pay for. AirAsia sells them at three to five times

their regular price.


17

Then there‘s the ‗Xpress Boarding‘ plan, where for an additional RM10 (RM5 for senior

citizen and children), travellers may board the aircraft ahead of everybody else. RM10 does

not seem like a lot, but it can add up. AirAsia flew 14 million passengers in 2007; assuming

that 1% of this number paid the RM10 to board their aircraft earlier, AirAsia would have

made an additional revenue of 140,000 passengers x RM10=RM1.4 million. If 10%,

AirAsia‘s revenue would have been RM14 million. This would all clean profit since no real

costs were involved in selling as the passengers were already accounted for.

The co-branded Citibank-AirAsia credit card that anybody can apply is another additional

revenue earner. AirAsia in return may get certain rabates from Citibank each time their

customers use the credit card, or from its card membership fee.

As a traveller, you will have needs. You will want to buy holiday packages, travel insurance

and accommodation and maybe rent a car when you arrive at your destination. Thus AirAsia

seeks out insurance companies, hotels, car rental companies and cruises to partner with so

that it can resell their products and service for additional revenue.

Finally, there‘s the revenue generated through advertising, such as from providing advertising

space on the side of the stairs leading into the aircraft, at the back of each seat, at the back of

the meal tray behind each seat, on overhead bins, air sickness bags, on the Airasia website

that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors every month, and in the airline‘s new-in flight

magazine which is expected to have at least 700,000 a month and an expected advertising

revenue in excess of RM1 million within its first year of launching. With the low-cost carrier

model, AirAsia‘s ancillary income plays a very important part in its revenue.


18

Strengths of Dato’ Tony Fernandez

Tony Fernandez has his own strengths that make him become a leader where he has high

degree of emotional intelligence, IQ and technical skills. He has the element of self

awareness, self regulation, motivation, empathy and social skill where all of these elements

are the component of emotional intelligence. Fernandez aware with one‘s emotion, values,

strengths, weakness, needs and drives and also the impact on others. He has high self

confidence in starting airline business even though he had no knowledge in this industry and

aware with the risk that he will burden like need to cover back the outstanding debt.

Besides that, Fernandez himself has very high motivation in running airline business. He

wills to do everything in order to success in this industry. One of example that we can see is

when he and his team drafted a new plan based on budget airlines around the world and

adapted the model to suit operations in Malaysia. After finished it, they met with Tun Dr

Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia‘s Prime Minister at the time to propose this exciting new

venture even he failed to get the licence to operate from the government on two previous

attempts. Fernandez also have very creative idea that bring him to new challenging

perspective by introducing concept of low cost service. This concept provides lower fare to

customer but at the same time being on time, safe and efficient. There are no airline company

that willing to give low cost service to customer in order to avoid loss but not Fernandez.

Tony also is the first leader that use internet to sell his products and dos not owning his own

technology.

This Air Asia‘s leader also focuses on his staff and people surrounding him. He has develop

his own social network with others people with the purpose to expand his business and tell

outsider regarding his airline business. So, as the result Air Asia will be known by others and

can gain profit. One of the activity done by Tony is sponsoring Formula one teams or


19

Manchester unite. Tony also actively involved in social responsibility like aid workers are

offered free transport to and from disaster areas in the wake of natural calamities. In term of

his staff, Tony had provided many reward and recognition to them, give professional training

for them to become a leader, and create a very good environment among them, so that they

can communicate freely.

We can see that Tony Fernandez have the eight practices to be affective leader consist of he

know what needs to be done, what is right for organization, had develop action plan,

responsible in his decision, responsible for communicating, focus on opportunity rather than

problems, run productive meeting and involved many people rather than himself only.


20

Types of Leadership

Tony Fernandez has various type of leadership. We can see that from the background and the

way he manage Air Asia, we can describe him as transformational and authentic leader.

Transformational leadership is defined as a leadership approach that causes change in

individuals and social systems. It is also refers to leader who inspire followers in many ways

such as enhances the motivation, morale and performance of his followers through a variety

of mechanisms. It can be seen when leader is always connecting the follower's sense of

identity and self to the mission and the collective identity of the organization, being a role

model for followers that inspires them, challenging followers to take greater ownership for

their work, and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of followers. As the result, the

leader can align followers with tasks that optimise their performance and at the same time it

creates valuable and positive change in the followers with the end goal of developing

followers into leaders.

Meanwhile, authentic leadership can be define as an individuals who are deeply aware of

how they think and behave and are perceived by others as being aware of their own and

others‘ values/moral perspective, knowledge, and strength; aware of the context in which

they operate; and who are confident, hopeful, optimistic, resilient, and high on moral

character. Authentic leader also transparent and fair, balanced decision maker. They

demonstrate a passion for their purpose, practice their values consistently and lead with their

hearts and their heads.

Tony Fernandez is said as transformational and authentic leadership because we can see that

he done many things for his organization, staff, and also others people. He inspires his

followers with his idea, action, attitudes and also the way he treats and communicates with

person surrounding him. In Air Asia itself, he implements the concept of equal opportunity


21

between his followers. This concept is for the purpose of giving motivation to his followers

so that they can work in positive environment. One of the equal opportunity is when Air Asia

offers the opportunity to every qualifying permanent staff, from bag handlers to flight

attendants, to become pilots after thorough training at its flight academy. Air Asia is the first

airline that hires female pilot crew. Besides that, trainees are not bound by any rules to devote

all their time to the airline like Chanaporn Rosjan, Thai pilot cadet in fact participated in a

local beauty pageant and went on to win becoming Miss Thailand 2005. Fernandes also has

created a culture of teamwork, equality and constant communication like what he did at

AirAsia‘s headquarters where it is staunchly open-plan. This aims to ensure staff of all levels

are continually in contact with each other, enhancing the opportunities for innovative

thinking and creative ideas.

Beside of the concept of equal opportunity, there are a lot of factor that can describe

Fernandez as transformational leadership and authentic leader. As a very good leader,

Fernandez build a unique culture starts at the recruitment stage to create a successful team.

He also lays the credit for those successes squarely with his staff base, offers plenty in return

in term of competitive salary packaging so that Air Asia can keeps it staff sticking with the

company, happy, productive staff and staying ahead of business competitors.

Transformational leader always has goal to develop his follower into leaders, so with that

goal, Fernandez helps his staff in personal and professional growth. All staff of all

designation and level is given training and development opportunities and pay close attention

to high potential talent in the airline.


22

References

1. The AirAsia Story by Sen Ze and Jayne Ng

2. Report of the Study Meeting on Creative Entrepreneurship held in Taipei, Republic of China,

18–21 May 2004 Edited by Prof. Tan Wee Liang

3. http://www.hrmasia.com/case-studies/airasia-the-sky-is-the-limit/38332/

4. An Airline: A Case Study of AirAsia by KHOR YOKE LIM, RAMLI MOHAMED, AZEMAN

ARIFFIN & GERALD GOH GUAN

http://www.hrmasia.com/case-studies/airasia-the-sky-is-the-limit/38332/

air asia report

Documents