On December 28, 2014, contact with Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501, carrying 162 people, was lost after it left Surabaya, Indonesia bound for Singapore. All passengers were believed dead. Until this horrific incident, AirAsia and its various affiliated airlines, which included AirAsia X and Indonesia AirAsia, along with several other airlines organized in joint ventures throughout Southeast Asia, had recorded rising profits, rapid expansion and, until this incident, a solid safety record. The company was buoyed by a savvy marketing strategy and the leadership of its flamboyant founder. He was concerned now about how this tragedy would affect AirAsia’s business in the short and long term. Should he delay or even stop some of his aggressive growth initiatives? Supplement to 9B12M013.
By 2007, AirAsia had become one of the most successful budget airlines in the world. Having dominated Southeast Asia and entered China and India, AirAsia was poised to solidify its place as a top budget airline and one of the most consistently profitable globally. But company founder Tony Fernandes had bigger plans. From the outset in 2001, Fernandes had intended to offer long-haul service, competing against the largest and most established airlines in the world. However, his advisors had urged him to focus on regional, short- to medium-distance service. With many previous successes, Fernandes was once again ready to attempt long-haul service. Despite warnings from industry insiders, Fernandes pushed forward with the expansion. <br><br>Hiring 36-year-old Azran Osman-Rani as the CEO for the new long-haul venture, nicknamed X, was a critical step in this process. By early 2010, X had received its eleventh aircraft and was flying to 15 destinations on three continents. However, over time the substantial differences between long-haul and short-haul operating requirements became more apparent. Consequently, the management decided to formally separate X from AirAsia. This separation, and the inherent challenges for X and its recently appointed head of commercial operations, included: (1) how best to leverage the extensive network of the regional sister company AirAsia in selecting new and profitable destinations for X, (2) how to increase revenues without raising ticket prices, (3) how best to globally position the airline’s brand in non-Asian markets, (4) how to shift his marketing team’s mentality away from a start-up mindset, and (5) how to prepare for a global initial public offering within the next year. See supplement 9B15M018.
In September 2001, Tony Fernandes left his job as vice president and head of Warner Music's Southeast Asian operations. He reportedly cashed in his stock options, took out a mortgage on his house, and lined up investors to take control of AirAsia, a struggling Malaysian airline. Three days later, terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center. Despite the negative aftermath of the 9-11 attacks, by 2003, AirAsia had demonstrated that the low-fare model epitomized by Southwest and JetBlue in the United States, and by Ryanair and easyJet in Europe, had great potential in the Asian marketplace. Now, Fernandes had to make plans to ensure that AirAsia maintained its momentum while considering the influx of new entrants into the low-fare segment of the airline industry in Asia.