Under fire over AirAsia-MAS deal, Fernandes seen shifting ties

By Debra Chong

October 05, 2011

Fernandes said most of AirAsia’s concessions came from Dr Mahathir and Najib’s administrations. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5 — Aviation tycoon Tan Sri Tony Fernandes appears to be moving his allegiance from one former prime minister to another since coming under attack from influential Malay right-wingers over AirAsia’s controversial share swap deal with Malaysia Airlines System (MAS).

Having won the public backing of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad last month, the AirAsia boss has now distanced himself from former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the latter’s circle, which was believed to once hold great influence over the government and included Abdullah’s son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin and other businessmen.

The ambitious Fernandes has been hard-hit following allegations he is using the national carrier to further his personal aspirations — the latest being the acquisition of English Premier League football club, Queens Park Rangers.

The country’s flag carrier will sponsor QPR’s home jersey for the next two seasons, while AirAsia’s logo will be emblazoned on the team’s away and third kits.

In an exclusive interview with Malay-language news portal, Agenda Daily, earlier this week, Fernandes addressed head-on the questions that have cast a shadow on his involvement in the airline industry.

Football-mad Fernandes recounted how his problems started when Khairy, a fellow football lover, said he could bring “My Team” to Old Trafford, the home of Premier League champions Manchester United.

“I said ‘great idea’, because it was a dream... and from there the problem started,” said the businessman who managed to turn a RM1 company into Asia’s biggest budget carrier.

When quizzed, he rubbished the suggestion that he owed AirAsia’s dramatic success to Abdullah who approved the budget carrier to fly into Singapore.

“No, our first international route was during Dr Mahathir’s time. The route we got during Pak Lah’s time was the KL-Singapore (that became controversial),” Fernandes was reported as saying.

He also played down his close ties to Khairy, who was seen as having an influence on the fifth prime minister who governed from October 2003 to March 2009 — around the time when AirAsia took off.

“Actually, we didn’t get anything, what we got was mostly during Dr Mahathir’s and Datuk Seri Najib’s time. During Pak lah’s era, it was very little,” Fernandes said.

Fernandes insisted that the share swap deal between AirAsia and MAS involved great risks to both companies, and denied either party was being “bailed out”.

He also sought to portray the controversial decision to buy Queens Park Rangers as a publicity stunt that had benefitted the loss-making MAS.

“Do you realise that since a month ago, MAS has got so much publicity... before this, if you go to London and ask them to name an airline from Malaysia, they would say AirAsia,” Fernandes told Agenda Daily.

“And if you go to Australia, they would say AirAsia X. AirAsia X spends four times as much as MAS (in advertising). You have to spend. That’s promotion.”