Jakarta, 7 August 2012 – AirAsia asean, the regional base of the world’s best low-cost airline, was
officially launched in Jakarta today.
The launch reaffirms AirAsia’s commitment to the Asean region, which it considers home, and coincides with the eve of the 45th anniversary of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN).
With its
new regional base, AirAsia strengthens its position as the Asean
airline. AirAsia asean was set up as part of the regional expansion
strategy of the group, which now
includes six airlines, five of which are anchored in Asean: the
short-haul carriers AirAsia Malaysia, AirAsia Thailand, AirAsia
Indonesia, AirAsia Philippines and AirAsia Japan, and the long-haul
carrier AirAsia X.
Tony
Fernandes, Group CEO of AirAsia, and Dato’ Kamarudin Meranun, Deputy
Group CEO of AirAsia, will be based at the AirAsia asean office.
“The establishment of the AirAsia asean office in Jakarta as our regional base is to help to more fully deliver on our pledge –
Now everyone can fly – to all the people of Asean and beyond. We
are blessed to be located in a part of the world where economic growth
is expected to be sustained despite the chilly economic winds blowing
through Europe and the United States. Shifting
AirAsia’s emphasis to a regional strategy is, we believe, not just good
business, but also a move that will keep us ahead of the inevitable
competition that is heading our way,” Fernandes said.
AirAsia
asean, as the nerve center of the group’s regional expansion, will help
ready the group for the implementation of the ASEAN Open Skies policy
and the ASEAN Economic Community,
initiatives that the ASEAN Secretariat is now actively pushing in its
10 member-countries.
“AirAsia
asean will help ensure that our voice, our concerns and our appeals are
heard much more clearly in the corridors of power with ASEAN. One of
the reasons for locating
the office in Jakarta is to help us engage more closely with the ASEAN
Secretariat, which is headquartered here,” Fernandes said.
By
focusing on regional growth, AirAsia expands its market base to 600
million people and brings Asean closer – within four-hour flight radii –
to mega populations in neighboring
giants China and India as well as in Japan and Korea. The Asean
region, Northeast Asia and South Asia have a combined population of 3
billion people, or 43% of the world’s population.
“No single
domestic market in Asean, not even Indonesia, can match the potential
of a regional ASEAN market of 600 million people,” he added.
AirAsia is
supporting its regional growth with a fleet expansion program that
includes firm orders for 375 Airbus A320, 25 Airbus A330 and 10 Airbus
A350 aircraft. The group
currently operates a fleet of 104 Airbus A320, nine Airbus A330 and two
A340 Airbus aircraft. It operates more than 160 direct city-to-city
links and flies to 85 destinations, of which 55 are in Asean.
AirAsia’s
commitment to Asean goes beyond its network of destinations. It has
provided employment to 10,000 individuals from across Asean and flown
more than 140 million guests
since its launch as a low-cost airline in 2001. It has championed the
region in various projects, including in sports and youth development,
on the global stage. Last month, AirAsia asean debuted Aseanita, a
female Asean caricature, online to promote the
region via popular social media channels and serve as a guide to the
region. Aseanita has so far garnered more than 2,700 likes on Facebook (facebook.com/Aseanita),
where she engages an average of 500 fans daily. Aseanita also encourages discussions regarding Asean on Twitter (@Aseanita), where she has close to 250 followers.
No comments:
Post a Comment