Fernandes was born in Kuala Lumpur to a Goan (Indian) father, and Kristang mom, Ena Dorothy Fernandes.[2] At a younger age, he used to observe his mom, a businesswoman, to Tupperwaredealer events and conventions. He was educated at Epsom Faculty from 1977 to 1983 and graduated from the London College of Economics in 1987. He labored very briefly with Virgin Atlantic as an auditor, subsequently changing into the monetary controller for Richard Branson’s Virgin Information in London from 1987 to 1989.[3] Tony was admitted as Affiliate Member of the Affiliation of Chartered Licensed Accountants (ACCA) in 1991 and have become Fellow Member in 1996.
He’s presently a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).
Upon his return to Malaysia, he grew to become the youngest managing director of Warner Music (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd. In addition to being an accountant, Fernandes is an newbie guitarist and in addition has achieved grade eight piano which is the place his musical inclination lies. He was answerable for revolutionising ethnic music, nasyid and dangdut, bringing them into the mainstream of up to date Malaysian music.
[citation needed] He subsequently grew to become the South East Asian regional vice-president for Warner Music Group from 1992-2001. When Time Warner Inc introduced its merger with America On-line Inc., Fernandes left to pursue his dream of beginning a price range no-frills airline. Nevertheless, his utility for a license from the Malaysian authorities was rejected
Launching AirAsia
It was by means of Datuk Pahamin A. Rejab, the previous secretary-general of the Malaysian Home Commerce and Shopper Affairs Ministry that Fernandes got here to fulfill with then Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in October 2001. As a substitute of ranging from scratch, Mahathir suggested Fernandes to purchase an present airline as an alternative. AirAsia, the heavily-indebted subsidiary of the Malaysian government-owned conglomerate, DRB-Hicom, was rapidly dropping cash. Fernandes mortgaged his house and used his private financial savings to amass the corporate, comprising two ageing Boeing 737-300 jets (9M-AAA and 9M-AAB) and US$11 million (RM40 million) value of money owed, for one ringgit (about 26 US cents), and reworked it into an trade participant. Coming simply after the September 11 assaults of 2001, everybody thought that Fernandes had gone “loopy”, predicting that the corporate would fail miserably.
But, only one 12 months after his takeover, AirAsia had damaged even and cleared all its money owed. Its preliminary public providing (IPO) in November 2004 was oversubscribed by 130 per cent.[citation needed] Fernandes says his timing was in reality good: after 11 September 2001, plane leasing prices fell 40%. Additionally, airline lay-offs meant skilled employees had been available. He believed Malaysian travellers would embrace a cut-rate air service that will save them money and time, particularly in a decent financial system. That was why he copied one of many world’s most profitable no-frills carriers,Eire’s Ryanair (which is in flip modelled after Southwest Airways in america). Fernandes estimates about 50 per cent of the travellers on Asia’s price range airways are first-time flyers. Earlier than AirAsia, he estimated that solely six per cent of Malaysians had ever travelled in a airplane.
Achievements and awards
Fernandes’ greatest achievement has been to show the AirAsia airline into a world provider. Earlier than the creation of AirAsia, international locations within the area didn’t have open-skies agreements. In mid-2003, Fernandes’ lobbying pushed Dr Mahathir to lift the thought with the leaders of neighbouring Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore. Consequently, these nations have granted touchdown rights to AirAsia and different low cost carriers. Fernandes opened up the price range provider sector within the area. Now, Southeast Asia hosts quite a lot of low-price carriers comparable to:
* Malaysia’s Firefly (owned by Malaysia Airways)
* Singapore’s Tiger Airways (owned by Singapore Airways);
* Singapore’s Scoot (owned by Singapore Airways);
* Singapore’s Valuair and Jetstar Asia (partly owned by Qantas Airways) (each airways merged in 2005);
* Thailand’s Nok Air;
* Vietnam’s Jetstar Pacific (previously Pacific Airways), and
* Philippines’s Cebu Pacific.
In Thailand and Indonesia, AirAsia holds a minority stake within the respective native corporations. Thai AirAsia, a three way partnership with Shin Company, Thailand’s largest telecommunication conglomerate, took to the skies in Feb 2004 and has up to now carried over 1 million passengers in its first 12 months of operations. PT Awair, re-launched as a low fare airline on eight December 2004 and subsequently renamed Indonesia AirAsia, presently serves 5 home locations in Indonesia. Fernandes has acquired a number of awards for his achievements:
* Worldwide Herald Tribune Award for the “Visionaries & Leadership Collection”, for his excellent work in AirAsia; * “Malaysian CEO of the Yr 2003” in December 2003 — up to now awarded to solely 9 different recipients within the nation, by American Categorical and Enterprise Instances. The award was an initiative to acknowledge entrepreneurial and managerial experience and efficiency amongst leaders of Malaysian companies. * Named the joint winner of the CEO of the Yr 2003 award by American Categorical Company Providers and Enterprise Instances. * “Rising Entrepreneur of the Yr” within the Ernst & Younger “Entrepreneur Of The Yr Awards” in 2003; * Made the record of Enterprise Week’s “25 Stars of Asia” in 2005. * Malaysian Ernst & Younger “Entrepreneur of the Yr 2006” * “Excellence In Leadership – Asia Pacific Leadership Awards 2009” * 2010 Forbes Asia businessman of the 12 months[35]
* 2011 No. 52, in FastCompany Prime 100 Most Inventive Folks in Enterprise.[36] Fernandes has additionally been honoured by the King of Malaysia with the title Tan Sri, Dato’ Sri and in addition by the federal government of France with the Legion d’Honneur Order.[37] In 2011, in response to a Crew Lotus press launch, Tony Fernandes was awarded a CBE or Commander of the Order of the British Empire “for providers to advertise business and academic hyperlinks” between Malaysia and the UK