Fernandes and his staff lean on each other…

While the Group CEO has been a pillar of strength for his staff, they in turn have been keeping his spirits up during the airline’s toughest times.

PETALING JAYA: In the latest series of tweets between AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes and his staff, it has become all too clear that both are leaning on each other for strength to carry on in the wake of Flight QZ8501 that crashed Sunday in the seas of East Java.

“Many messages of strength for my staff all over Asia. Makes me sure we will come back stronger. But first and only priority is families,” Fernandes tweeted last night.

He was referring to a touching tweet and a photo his ramp staff sent him via Twitter earlier that by his own admittance, gave him the “energy to keep going” despite the heartache of losing 162 passengers and crew on board the doomed flight.

The tweet from his staff read: “Dear boss…this is part of our effort to share the pain, gather some courage, gaining some energy. This is only teaser. All pictures are inside my cheap camera hahaha… Will show to u. First if you notice english mistakes on that paper. We wrote OFF instead of ‘OF’… Sorry boss… Coming from ramp girls who wrote that themselves after I gave some paper… Hope it can at least make you smile. Together we stand. True! We loves you!”

The tweet was accompanied by a photo of one of his staff holding up a message that read: “AirAisa Because off you Everybody Can fly. Pray 4 QZ8501.”

The message came one day after Fernandes’ last tweet in which he said, “I’m arriving in Surabaya to take Nisa home to Palembang. I cannot describe how I feel. There are no words.”

Fernandes was referring to flight attendant Khairunisa Haidar Fauzi whose remains was recovered from the sea and who was positively identified because her name tag was reportedly still attached to her uniform.

In fact the decision to accompany Khairunisa home was made earlier when Fernandes tweeted on December 31, “If our beautiful and wonderful crew is identified we will go from Surabaya to Palembang with her parents. Heartbreaking soul destroying.”

In an official statement released yesterday, AirAsia Indonesia confirmed the recovery of 30 remains from the search area, adding, “The search process is still underway with the Russian SAR team joining the mission, strengthening the operation led by Basarnas.

“Weather in the SAR area for tomorrow (Sunday) is forecasted to be much better with waves likely to decrease and remain at 2-3 metres.”

Disaster Victim Identification Police Department of the Republic of Indonesia (DVI POLRI) also confirmed two remains of QZ8501 passengers as being that of Hendra Gunawan Syawal (male) and Meiji Thejakusuma (female).

The remains were handed over earlier yesterday at Bhayangkara Hospital, Surabaya by CEO of AirAsia Indonesia, Sunu Widyatmoko.