Tony Fernandes

CEO of Air Asia

Tony Fernandes founded Tune Air Sdn Bhd in 2001, w ith a vision to m ake air TOPICS travel m ore affordable to M alaysians. W ith that in m ind, Tony and his three partners bought over AirAsia from its ow ner DRB-H icom . Tune Air's initial project w as to rem odel AirAsia into a low fare no frills carrier after • Leadership successful low fare airlines such as U .S.-based Southw est Airlines and Dublin-based Ryanair and create a new aviation product in M alaysia. • A viation U nder Tony’s leadership, the fledging airline w ith a RM 40 m illion debt becam e a thriving business. The airline repaid all debts and has been in a profitable position from the first day of operation. In less than 3 years, AirAsia grew from 2 m odest Boeing 737-300 to 30 and is now operating over • Strategy 100 dom estic and international daily flights from hubs in KLIA, Johor Bahru, Bangkok and Jakarta.

U nder his w ings, AirAsia w ent on to revolutionize the air travel industry in • Entrepreneurship M alaysia and pioneered the low cost phenom enon in Asia. In 2004, AirAsia form ed successful joint ventures in Thailand and Indonesia w here AirAsia holds 49% of the stake in both com panies.

Thai AirAsia, a joint venture w ith Shin Corporation, Thailand’s largest telecom m unication conglom erate, took to the skies in Feb 2004 and has to date carried over 1 m illion passengers in its first year of operations. PT AW AIR, re-launched as a low fare airline on Dec 8th 2004 and presently serves 5 dom estic destinations in Indonesia.

A fam iliar face in the aviation industry as w ell as on an international level, Tony has headlined the covers of Airline Business m agazine, Asian W all Street Journal, N ew York Tim es, International H erald Tribune and featured on countless international publications such as South China M orning Post, Financial Tim es, Far Eastern Econom ic Review , The Econom ist and m any m ore.

Recently Tony w as nam ed the w inner of Airline Business Strategy Aw ard for Regional and Low Cost Leadership by Airline Business and the M aster Entrepreneur category of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year – M alaysia 2006. H e also bagged the 2006/07 ‘The Brand Laureate’ Brand Personality for his exem plary perform ance, dedication and contribution tow ards the aviation industry in M alaysia.

+34 91 432 4035 – fax +34 91 577 64 80 Plaza del M arqués de Salam anca 2, 28006 – M adrid España CIF: B-84318708