Born in Malaysia and educated at the London School of Economics, Fernandes began his career at Richard Branson’s Virgin Communications in the mid-1980s. He rose to the position of financial controller before moving to Warner Music International’s London operation in 1989. Fernandes was chosen to lead Warner’s operation in Malaysia as its managing director before being put in charge of its whole Southeast Asia division.
Taking a cue from Southwest Airlines, Fernandes built his airline on cheap fares, quality service, and quick turnarounds for its planes.
The airline quickly reached profitability and remained in the black.
The Kuala Lumpur-based AirAsia — together with its subsidiaries in Indonesia, India, Thailand, and the Philippines — now operates a fleet of more than 160 Airbus A320 and A330 series jets transporting more than 230 million passengers per year.
The airline had fewer than 300 employees in 2001. It now has more than 15,000.
Fernandes didn’t stop with AirAsia. The airline is just one piece of his sprawling Tune Group, which includes a line of trendy no-frills hotels in Asia and the UK, along with investments in professional basketball and the Caterham Formula One racing team.
“What does the market want? Nine times out of 10, when you go for what the market wants, it’s something that’s different,” Fernandes told INSEAD Business School’s Knowledge publication in 2007. “But we weren’t the first to invent low-cost travel, we weren’t the first to invent a low-cost hotel.”
“We’ve taken it to another level, but we’ve been a bit Japanese in taking it, and adapting it, and making it better for our part of the world,” Fernandes added.