AirAsia X is expected to appoint Y.B. Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz as the company’s new non-executive, independent chairman this week.
The Board of Directors of AirAsia X Sdn Bhd will convene on Thursday, 3rd March 2011, to formalise the appointment. Y.B. Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, the former Minister of International Trade and Industry, had earlier accepted an offer for the post extended by AirAsia X board. Currently, the AirAsia X Board is chaired by Dato’ Kamarudin Meranun, AirAsia Berhad’s Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer.
“ It is an honour and privilege for me to hand over and make way for someone of Y.B. Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz’s stature, and we are confident that under her chairmanship, AirAsia X will continue to grow into a Malaysian Global Champion in aviation,” said Dato’ Kamarudin.
AirAsia X intends to capitalise on Y.B. Tan Sri Rafidah’s extensive international expertise, as Malaysia’s longest serving Minister of International Trade & Industry and her world-renown skills as a tough, no-nonsense, pragmatic and articulate international trade negotiator who completed many bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, as well as dealing with top-level executives of global multinational corporations to convince them to invest in Malaysia. Her independent status will also strengthen the corporate governance of AirAsia X, which is considering an Initial Public Offering exercise in the near future. Her previous role at MITI also provided Y.B. Tan Sri Rafidah with extensive experience with the Malaysian IPO process and dealing with major institutional investors.
The current Board of Directors of AirAsia X Sdn Bhd comprises seven directors representing the shareholders of the company, namely AeroVentures Sdn Bhd (52%), AirAsia Bhd (16%), Corvina Holdings (10%), Orix Corp (11%), and Manara Malaysia Ltd (11%). The Board is presently chaired by Dato’ Kamarudin Meranun, AirAsia Bhd’s Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer.
AirAsia X is the long-haul, low cost affiliate of AirAsia, Malaysia’s largest airline by market capitalization.
AirAsia, the leading and largest low-cost carrier in Asia, services the most extensive network with approximately 139 routes covering destinations in Asia, Australia and Europe. In 8 plus years of operations, AirAsia has carried more than 100 million guests and grown its fleet from just two aircraft to approximately 102. The airline today is proud to be a truly Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) airline with established operations based in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, servicing a network stretching across all Asean countries, China, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Australia. This is further complemented by AirAsia X, its low-cost long-haul affiliate carrier that currently flies to destinations in China, Australia, Taiwan, India, Iran, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, France and the UK. AirAsia was named World’s Best Low Cost Airline in the annual World Airline Survey by Skytrax for two consecutive years, in 2009 and 2010.
