Tony Fernandes shares AirAsia experience at Obama Foundation event

When the AirAsia Flight 8501 flying from Surabaya to Singapore crashed into the Java Sea in 2014, killing all 162 people on board in 2014, AirAsia Group Bhd chief executive officer (CEO) Tony Fernandes (above) said everyone advised him against going to Indonesia to directly deal with the crisis.

But the entrepreneur said he still decided to fly to Surabaya to meet with each and every one of the families of the victims of the crash, for he felt that was the right thing to do.

"People said, you don't have to go, it's the Indonesian airline. Let the Indonesian team handle it. And I was like, are you crazy?

"It was against the advice of all the professionals. I just went out to Surabaya and I personally met every single family. I gave them my phone number.

"You just have to do what's right and what was right was for me to be there, not hide behind lawyers," Fernandes said in a panel talk as part of the Obama Foundation Leaders: Asia-Pacific Programme in Bangsar South, Kuala Lumpur, today.

This programme is being held from Dec 10 to 13 and will feature various prominent leaders in their respective fields, including former US president Barack Obama, his wife Michelle Obama and actress Julia Roberts.

The panel talk today, titled 'Entrepreneurship: Working with Purpose', also featured former New Zealand footballer Tim Brown, who founded a sustainable footwear company, as well as Indonesian lawyer Helianti Hilman, who founded a company focused on indigenous Indonesian food products.

Fernandes also spoke about inclusivity among AirAsia employees, saying that he strived to create an environment where everyone could "live their dreams".

He related a story about an employee at AirAsia who started out carrying bags for the pilots and eventually became a pilot - with the highest marks ever in Malaysian flying academies - through funding from AirAsia.

Wang Wen Chien, who became the first female pilot for MAS, in 2018.

In the past, there were also very few female pilots in Southeast Asia, he said.

"(At that time) I went to my chief pilot and said why are there no female pilots and he came up with the most ridiculous answer, that can never be repeated in public, and I said that if a woman can run a country, she can certainly fly a plane.

"Today we have 400 female pilots," Fernandes said, eliciting applause from the 250-strong audience.

He also stressed the importance of mental health among his employees, saying that work pressures have changed dramatically.

"In Asia, we make mental health a real kind of bad thing, but it's just another disease.

"So we want to encourage it, publicise it, allow our staff to have access but more importantly, more companies should embrace it and we should not make mental health a taboo kind of thing," Fernandes said. - Mkini