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Air Asia history

Air Asia was established in 1993 and commenced its operations on 18th November 1996. This airline was originally founded by a government owned conglomerate DRB-Hicom. However, on 2nd December 2001, the heaviliy indebted airline was purchased by former Time Warner executive Tony Fernandes’s company Tune Air Sdn Bhd for the token sum of one ringgit. Fernandes proceeded to engineer a remarkable turnaround, turning a profit in 2002 and launching new routes from its hub in KLIA at breakneck speed which undercutting former monopoly operator Malaysia Airlines with promotional fares as low as one ringgit. In 2003, AirAsia has opened a second hub at Senai International Airport in Johor Bahru, which is near Singapore. And, it launched its first international flight to Bangkok. AirAsia has therefore started a Thai subsidiary, added Singapore to the destination list, and it commenced flights to Indonesia. Also, flight to Macau was started in June 2004 and flight to Mainland China and the Philippines started in April 2005. In addition, the flight to Vietnam and Cambodia is in the year 2005 while to Brunei and Myanmar is in 2006. With a strong yet simple slogan “Now Everyone Can Fly”, AirAsia has effectively placed its brand in customer’s mind when comes to selection of flight. In Malaysia, AirAsia is the second powerful national airline. Also, it was the first successful low cost and ticket-less airline in the Southeast Asian region. It is main based in the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). And, AirAsia has a registered office in Petaling Jaya, Selangor and its head office is on the grounds of KLIA in Sepang, Selangor. In addition, AirAsia is one of the successful businesses that have adopted cost leadership thoroughly through effectiveness and efficiency of the operation management. AirAsia has broken the travel norms around the world speedily and has become the world’s top airline. Beside this, AirAsia also has a route network that spans more than 20 countries; therefore it continues to pave the way for lower cost aviation through innovative solutions, more efficient processes and a passionate approach to the business. The vision of AirAsia is to be the largest cost airline in Asia and for the purpose of serving the 3 billion people who are currently underserved with poor connectivity as well as high fares. There are 4 missions such as to be the best company to work for where the employees are treated as part of the big family in AirAsia, to create a ASEAN brand which is being recognized globally, to attain the lowest cost to make sure everyone in the world can fly with AirAsia, and to maintain the highest quality product by embracing technology in order to reduce cost and enhance the service levels of AirAsia. Apart from that, together with the associate companies such as AirAsia X, Thai AirAsia and Indonesia AirAsia, AirAsia is set to take the low cost flying. AirAsia X was established in 2007 in order to provide high frequency as well as point to point networks to the long haul business. Its cost efficiencies are derived from maintaining a simple aircraft fleet and a route network based on low cost airports. Hence, guests will continue to enjoy the low fares through cost savings that AirAsia pass on to the guests. Moreover, AirAsia X franchises the brand name of AirAsia, Asia’s largest low cost carrier which uses a common ticketing website, uniform, uniforms, and management style with AirAsia. AirAsia X is also affiliated with Virgin Group and Air Canada. AirAsia operates over 200 flights a day, to over 75 domestic and international routes covering Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Myanmar, the People’s Republic of China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Australia and the Philippines. Service AirAsia focus is an organization that provides traveling to passenger around South-East Asia. There are two main type of service provided by AirAsia which is AirAsia and AirAsia X. AirAsia is an offer for passenger that fly around South-East Asia but AirAsia X is an offer for passenger that fly toward Australia, China and etc. GoHoliday is an extra service provided by AirAsia. GoHoliday offer hotels and activities around that country. Package are provided to passenger who are interested. GoHostel is also an extra service provided by AirAsia. GoHostel provide variety of hotel in the country that the passenger flies to. Offers are often provided to the passenger of AirAsia. Plan AirAsia’s CEO Tony Fernandes unveiled a five-year plan to further enhance its presence in Asia. In the plan, AirAsia will strengthen and enhance its route network by connecting all the existing cities in the region and expanding further into Indochina, Indonesia, Southern China (Kun Ming, Xiamen, Shenzen) and India. The airline will focus on developing its hubs in Bangkok and Jakarta through its sister companies, Thai AirAsia and Indonesia AirAsia. Hence, with increase frequency and addition of new routes, AirAsia expects passenger volume to hit 18 million by end-2007. On 27 March 2006, the Government of Malaysia announced that AirAsia will take over 96 non-trunk routes, in addition to 19 domestic trunk routes. This was part of Malaysia Airlines route rationalization programme which saw a large number of its domestic sectors being transferred to AirAsia from 1 August 2006. On September 27, 2008, AirAsia has on its list 106 new routes to be added to its current list of 60 over the next few years. Technology AirAsia widely utilises the Internet as a booking and payment channel. Its website at www. airasia. com allows guests to book and pay for seats, check flight schedules, and acquire information about the airline. About 45% of AirAsia’s business is done through Internet sales. It also became the first airline in the world to offer a multilingual website that comes in six languages: English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin, Tamil, Thai and Bahasa Indonesia.

Airasia and Tata

AirAsia is one of the first foreign airline to set up a subordinate airline industry in India. The company marked the Tata Group's return to the aviation industry. AirAsia India is a joint venture (JV) between the Tata group and Malaysia-based AirAsia Berhad AirAsia group. Where the Tatas own 51% stake and the remaining 49% is with AirAsia Bhd. The Malaysian airline group, which has been reporting losses, reportedly approached the Tatas in June to sell its part of the stake. The offer was refused by Tata Sons. Even the AirAsia India is floundering to achieve a reversal of policy, having gained profits only for a single quarter since it began operations six years ago. Tata Sons, the other JV partner with a 51 per cent stake, has so far made no money out of it. There are also suppositions that Tata is planning to consolidate its exiting stake in AirAsia with Air India into a single enterprise. It is also important to mention that the national carrier started as a division of Tata Sons Ltd in 1932 and was run as 'Tata Airlines' till 1946, after which it became a public limited company, renamed as Air India due to nationalization. From Tata Airlines and Air India to Vistara and AirAsia India, the Tata group has always been an important part of the growing aviation sector in India.

Airasia safety issue

Flying Beast Gaurav Taneja who got suspended from job as a pilot, after he raised his voice publically on some flight safety issues in AirAsia Airlines. AirAsia India is under governor probe for reportedly violation of safety practices. The move comes to light a day after aviation regulator The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). It is the statutory body formed under the Aircraft (Amendment) Bill, 2020. DGCA sent a show-cause notice to AirAsia India's Head of Operations, Manish Uppal. Mr Taneja in his YouTube video has explained the safety issues of AirAsia India. Taneja also tweeted "So good to see that #AirAsia has not yet come up with a statement “WE ARE NOT UNSAFE”. The violations are related to safety protocols, ignorance of The Directorate General of Civil Aviation circulars on covid-19 safety of passengers, ignorance of sick leaves of pilots and pressurising pilots to use flap 3 landings in a way to save fuel 98% of time. Taking knowledge of that, the DGCA had Tweeted on June 15 “DGCA has taken note of the concerns raised by some stakeholders against a particular airline and its approach to safety. DGCA has already started an investigation into the issues flagged and shall take appropriate action based on the outcome of the said investigation.”

Gaurav Taneja allegation on Air Asia

In June this year, one of AirAsia India’s former pilot who runs a YouTube channel called Flying Beast. Gaurav Taneja, who has, first raised safety issues at AirAsia through a tweet on June 13, though he didn’t disclose any details. Gaurav Taneja was terminated by the airline on Friday. Taneja tweeted the same around midnight on Monday he tweeted “I was terminated from AirAsia for raising safety issues! Now, the same issues are raised by DGCA to Air Asia India. Justice will prevail!”. This comes a fortnight after he was suspended from the airline. Soon after Taneja’s termination, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), on Sunday, issued a showcause notice to a senior executive of AirAsia India over Taneja’s allegations of violation of safety norms. A DGCA official said that the showcause notice has been served after the pilot's allegations. "AirAsia India confirms receipt of the notice and we are assisting the regulator in its fact-finding process. We will fully cooperate with the regulator," said an AirAsia India spokesperson. In his video on June 14, however, he made several allegations with respect to the violation of safety norms by the airline. He alleged that he was made to work on his off days and said that putting sick pilots in the cockpit is risky. When he escalated this to the chief of the safety of the airline, he allegedly wrote back that he undergo lifestyle counselling and medical tests again. He also alleged that protocols, that were in place in March when coronavirus was spreading, were not followed properly by the airline (although he does not outline which), and stated that from March 24 onwards, he refused to fly. He also alleged that the airline asks its pilots to do 98% of landings in "Flap 3" mode, which allows it to save fuel. Failing to do this is considered a violation by the airline, he alleged. Flaps are part of wings of an aircraft and they are engaged to create a drag during a landing or a take-off. After this, Amit Singh, the former Chief of Safety at AirAsia India, also tweeted that he resigned with just a day’s notice and refused to work with the company because the company allegedly asked him to hide safety issues. “As the Chief of Flight Safety of AirAsia India after launch, I resigned and left with 1 days’ notice. I refused to work for them for a minute after they asked me to hide safety related issues. Such is the safety culture there. They accused me of working for @DGCAIndia instead of them,” he tweeted. Soon after this DGCA took note of the concerns raised and began investigating the airline.

Airasia and DGCA

Air Asia has been on a drift from years, due to different reasons as company going in loss and so on. These time are already tough due to the prevailing pandemic. Various services are suffering a huge loss and so is Air Asia. Recently the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) suspended Captain Manish Uppal, the Head of Operations, Air Asia and Captain Mukesh Neema, Chief of Flight Safety, Air Asia, on safety violations by Air Asia. Taneja's allegations regarding the safety as the company sent sick pilot on work and instructed pilots to do "flap 3" in order to save fuel. Registered allegations says that the low-cost carrier violates safety norms and puts the lives of its pilots, crew and all the passengers at risk. In June, the DGCA took note of the complaints raised by a number of stakeholders and started an investigation into the reported issues. The aviation regulator said it will "take appropriate action based on the outcome of the said investigation". However, the aviation watchdog has received criticism for announcing a short-term suspension of the carrier's top brass as compared to the suspension of the pilot. Also, DGCA mentioned that AirAsia India was under investigation after Taneja's allegations.

Airasia is unsafe

The youtuber who raised his voice against the safety issues of passengers in Air Asia Mr. Gaurav Taneja also a pilot by profession alleged in his youtube video that, "the AirAsia airline by which we travel is unsafe." Initially he said when we ask for sick leave it is counted as off day. "Pilots do fear asking for a sick leave, as it may lead to punitive action," The punitive action may be in the form of a lower bonus. "On any other job, one could go to work despite feeling a bit under the weather. As a pilot, I can't afford to do that," says the pilot. Secondly, he talked about standard operating procedure (SOPs) not being followed. Though he doesn't get into the details on which SoPs were not being followed. Lastely he talked about landing issues. Flap 3 or Flap 4. The purpose of the flaps is to generate more lift at slower airspeed, which enables the airplane to fly at a greatly reduced speed with a lower risk of stalling. This is especially useful during takeoff and landing. A no-flaps landing is done in the conditions of strong or gusty winds. Flap 3 is more preferred as it saves fuel which is the reason why nearly all airlines advise their pilots to use this mode of landing, rather than Flap 4. But the AirAsia airline has asked its pilots to do 98 per cent of landings in "Flap 3" mode, which allows it to save fuel. He said if a pilot does not do 98 per cent of landings in "Flap 3" mode, the airline considers it a violation of its standard operating procedure or also denoted as SOP.

Airasia senior managment suspension

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended two senior executives of AirAsia India. Captain Manish Uppal, the Head of Operations and Captain Mukesh Neema, Chief of Flight Safety are suspended for three months over violations of safety protocols. The DGCA had issued a show-cause notice to Air Asia India on June 28, in connection with a pilot levelling allegation that the airline engaged in compromising safety protocols. The AirAsia came into the soptlight during the month of June, when a suspended AirAsia Pilot, Gaurav Taneja levelled allegations against Air Asia company through his YouTube channel called "Flying Beast". In his vlog, he alleged Air Asia for the violations of safety norms by the low-cost carrier, forcing the pilots to use a landing mechanism that would save fuel. He allegedly said that they are not at all worried for the safety of their passengers rather forcing to save fuel as much as possible. He tweeted, on June 14, that he has been suspended by AirAsia India "for standing up for safety operations of an aircraft and its passengers". The following day, he posted a detailed video on YouTube entitled "Reasons behind suspension from my pilot job". On the suspension of the two executives, Taneja tweeted, "Capt Manish Uppal and Mukesh Neema from @AirAsiaIndian are suspended by @DGCAIndia for safety violations and risking people lives for profits. All the "safety experts" who were acting as PR agents of @AirAsiaIndian , you are caught with your pants down."

burnol for Airasia

#BurnolForAirAsia became one of the top trends in Twitter. This trend was initiated by former Captain Gaurav Taneja. He sent a box full of Burnol tubes to AirAsia after the airline company lost a legal battle. Gaurav Taneja through his YouTube channel, exposed the reality of AirAsia company. He alleged Air Asia for compromising with the life and safety of the passengers in order to save fuel by forcing the Pilots to use a landing mechanism that would save fuel. He added how the pilots were being mentally tortured by the company for the above reason. Taneja was suspended as soon as this came into notice by the airline company. He then came up with a video and disclosed the reason of his suspension and company's malpractices with solid evidence. His movement accumulated massive support from the netizens who also filed an RTI to seek complete information from the aviation company. Taneja's stand for the right cause throughout gave him favourable results, Captain Manish Uppal (Head Of Operations) and Captain Mukesh Nema (Chief Of Flight Safety) were suspended by DGCA. After this news, he decided to send a savage box of surprise to AirAsia - a box full or burnol tubes and tweeted, "Sending a box full of this #SabKeLiye Please distribute properly. No cheating this time please @AirAsiaIndian #BurnolForAirasia."

Whistleblower targeted by Airasia

Air Asia has fired Captain Gaurav Taneja, who brought out the company's malpractices in order to save fuel and for that neglecting the safety of the passengers. He is said to have acted as a whistleblower as he exposed the unlawful activity which went on, in the Air Asia company. On June 14, Taneja came up with a YouTube video and said that he has been suspended by the AirAsia company for standing up for "safe operations of an aircraft and its passengers." Taneja alleged that the company forced the Pilots to use a landing technique called "Flap 3" mode in order to save fuel. Thus, for a minimal amout of fuel, the passengers safety is being compromised. On June 15, the aviation regulator DGCA tweeted that it has taken note of allegations against a "particular airline". Consequently, the DGCA had decided to issue a showcause notice to a senior executive of the airline after the alleged violation of safety norms came to light. The showcause notice has been served post the pilot's allegations. Air Asia issued a statement that it has complied with the direction of DGCA and appointed INTERIM POST HOLDERS while maintaining that it prioritizes safety. Authorities will exercise an option of an appeal for addressal. "AirAsia India confirms receipt of the notice and we are assisting the regulator in its fact finding process. We will fully cooperate with the regulator," said an AirAsia India spokesperson. While, On June 26, Taneja, who was already suspended got dismissed for publicly alleging safety violations at the airline.

Way forward for Air Asia

AirAsia is the first subordinate aviation industry in India. Ever since its launch, AirAsia India has been involved in one controversy or the other. Now this is being speculated Tata is planning to merge its exiting stake in AirAsia with Air India into a single entity. After all the controversial draught of being in loss, not treating employees in a proper decorum and risking passengers life in order to save fuel have brought a negative impact on industries goodwill. It can be said that this is going to be a tough task to regain customers trust and reputation. For this the company will have to stick to all the safety norms according to the aviation industry. And also taking all the precautionary measures during the pandemic. AirAsia will have to prioritise the safety of the passengers and the crews. Also, to create a healthy working environment where the employees won't fear to ask for leave during emergency and make sure that they are not finding the job as a burden.