AirAsia CEO Fernandes Keeps Focus On India
Face to Face Aviation Week & Space Technology May 03 , 2010 , p. 52 Neelam Mathews Sakhir, Bahrain Printed headline: On the Fast Track Tony Fernandes Age: 46 Education: Educated at Epsom College; graduated from the London School of Economics in 1987. Career: Became financial controller of Warner Music International in 1987; worked as an auditor at Virgin Atlantic and as the financial auditor for Virgin Records. Named managing director at Warner Music Malaysia in 1992. Became vice president of Warner Music-Southeast Asia in 1999 and left in 2001 to buy the ailing AirAsia. With a background in the music business, Tony Fernandes did not seem a perfect candidate to take on the legacy carrier establishment when he acquired AirAsia. Just weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Fernandes paid a token 25 cents for the airline, which was backed by the Malaysian government and carried a $12-million debt. He retired the debt in two years and since then, Fernandes and his par...