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AirAsia and AirAsia X Jointly Win CAPA Airline of the Year Award and Tony Fernandes Conferred CAPA Legend Award!
AirAsia and AirAsia X are leading the way in developing short-haul to long-haul connectivity in ways which promise to revolutionize the international marketplace – Peter Harbison.
Exceptional achievement, brilliant innovations, and constant positive growth – these exceptional qualities made AirAsia and AirAsia X joint winners of the prestigious Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) Airline of the Year Award for 2009 this year at the CAPA Aviation Awards for Excellence presentation ceremony, held at the Great Wall Sheraton in Beijing, China. AirAsia’s Group CEO, Dato’ Sri Tony Fernandes was also conferred the CAPA Legend Award (Aviation Hall of Fame) for 2009 for shaping the way the aviation industry has evolved.
The Awards Ceremony was held as part of this year’s sixth annual Asia Aviation Outlook summit, showcasing airline and airport CEOs from around the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions.
AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes said, “This is a dual celebration for the airline. We are greatly honoured to be bestowed the most prestigious award of the evening. I am also honoured to be part of the Aviation Hall of Fame which honours me a lifetime of strategic leadership, innovation and influence in the aviation industry. Undoubtedly, our ceaseless dedication in providing premium services with low fares, incessant innovations and most significantly, the unbeatable synergy of our short-haul and long-haul networks has greatly contributed to this success.”
“From 2 planes to 80 and from 200,000 to over 75 million passengers in just a short 7 years marks unprecedented growth by any airline globally, let alone a low fare airline like AirAsia. We are deeply flattered to accept this award and this shall further bolster our pledge – to provide superior services coupled with our low fares plus diverse service options to our guests. This is our promise,” he concluded.
The CAPA Airline of the Year 2009 award is deemed the uppermost level of recognition given to airlines for excellent achievements in the aviation industry and outstanding strategic contribution over the course of the past year. AirAsia had successfully proven to be the leader in the development of the airline industry with its constant innovations and rapid expansion of its operations across the region and internationally, regularly setting new standards of excellence for others to follow.
The CAPA Legend Award 2009 (Aviation Hall of Fame) recognizes outstanding individual figures for being a revolutionary force in the aviation industry. Dato’ Sri Tony Fernandes, Group CEO of AirAsia was recognized for his influential actions for directly shaping the way the aviation industry has evolved. He is recognized for his drive, creativity, enthusiasm of driving liberalization across the region, opening new markets for AirAsia by bringing air travel to millions of new travelers and high growth levels to countless tourism destinations in a remarkably short time. The Group CEO’s venture into low cost long haul services with AirAsia X may further cause revolution in the way network air services are delivered. Dato’ Sri Tony Fernandes joins the prestigious Centre's Hall of Fame, joining Dato’ Seri Bashir Ahmad (Managing Director of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad), Ray Webster (founding CEO of EasyJet), Dr Cheong Choong Kong (former Chief Executive Officer of Singapore Airlines) and Maurice Flanagan (founding Vice Chairman, Emirates Airline) who were previous winners of this award.
AirAsia X CEO Azran Osman-Rani was equally elated by the win. He said, “It was just in 2008 that AirAsia X won the CAPA New Airline of the Year award. Being acknowledged as the CAPA Airline of the Year for 2009 within just a year of our previous win is indeed a great honour. This recognition will greatly boost our fortitude to offer greater quality services to all our guests and inspire us to further expand our network globally. Look out for our groundbreaking lie-flat bed seats next year! Thank you CAPA for their utmost recognition once again."
AirAsia has previously won several awards from CAPA – AirAsia was a joint winner of the Airline of the Year award in 2003, won the Asia Pacific Low Cost Airline of the Year 2004, followed by the Asia Pacific Aviation Executive of the Year 2005 which was awarded to Tony Fernandes, Group CEO and Founder of AirAsia.
In 2007, the airline again scored the prestigious Airline of the Year award and in 2008, AirAsia X was conferred the New Airline of the Year Award.
Peter Harbison, Executive Chairman of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) said, “AirAsia has had another superlative year amid some of the toughest conditions to hit the airline industry on record. An innovator in revenue generation, with a strongly developing network and consistent focus on maintaining its world leading low cost base, AirAsia was the outstanding performer in 2009. AirAsia and AirAsia X are leading the way in developing short-haul to long-haul connectivity in ways which promise to revolutionize the international marketplace”.
"CAPA is doubly pleased that the CAPA Legend Award for 2009 was honoured to the airline’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Tony Fernandes. This award honours strategic leadership, vision, innovation and influence in the aviation industry. Tony Fernandes is the youngest inductee into the Hall of Fame, but his impact on Asia Pacific aviation has been profound. Pioneering the cross-border joint venture model in Asia to open up new opportunities beyond its Malaysian base in Thailand and Indonesia, as well as low-cost long-haul services to link the region globally, the AirAsia Group is on track to handle 24 million passengers in 2009 – some 30% more than in 2008, despite the global economic slowdown. But AirAsia’s impact is much more than its generation of strong traffic growth. The airline is catalysing positive change in the way governments, suppliers and its rivals are thinking and acting. We are delighted to recognise Tony Fernandes’ leadership role in driving our industry forward”, he concluded.
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