AirAsia’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes has been announced as CNBC’s inaugural ‘Travel Business Leaders Award’ Asia Pacific winner at the Asia Travel Leaders Summit Gala Dinner held in Singapore.
Other nominees for the inaugural CNBC ‘Travel Business Leaders Award’ Asia Pacific include Ho Kwon Ping, Executive Chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings; William Heinecke, Chairman & CEO of Minor International; Clement Kwok, MD & CEO of The Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels; Arun Nanda, Chairman of Mahindra Holidays & Resorts (India); Hideo Sawada, Chairman of H.I.S, Yang-Ho Co; Chairman & CEO of Korean Air; and Tan Sri Dr. Francis Yeoh, Managing Director of YTL Corp.
Tan Sri Tony Fernandes says, “It is humbling to emerge tops from the impressive nominee list. I am indeed grateful to receive this recognition from CNBC, and I attribute this award to my passionate and dedicated team of AirAsia Allstars who made AirAsia what it is today.”
“The travel and tourism industry has evolved tremendously and it is a real challenge to ensure that we are constantly taking the right steps to provide better value for guests, as well as keeping all stakeholders happy; and to remain the industry leader at the same time. This award helps to reinforce all of that, and also acts as a reminder that I need to step up my game to provide even better leadership to retain the award next year.” he added
Azran Osman-Rani, Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia X accepted the award on behalf of Tan Sri Tony Fernandes.
Tan Sri Tony Fernandes has also recently been awarded CEO of the Year at the recent 5th Annual Budgies Low Cost Airlines Award held in London, and also named as one of the most creative people in business for 2011 by New York-based business magazine Fast Company; amongst the other awards he received this year.
The CNBC Travel Business Leaders Award Asia Pacific aims to recognize business leaders with excellence in the travel and tourism industry – an individual who drives growth, success and profitability with qualities including innovation, management skills and the ability to formulate strategies and capitalize of key trends. All these are taken into account as part of the main judging criteria.
Only listed companies from the travel and tourism industry, including airlines, hospitality (hotels & resorts), attractions, tour operators, travel agents and airports are considered for the award to ensure transparency. Candidates have to be in their current role for at least two years in order to qualify for the award.
Chicago Booth and Millward Brown are the Knowledge and Research Partners for the Travel Business Leaders Award and have worked closely with CNBC to ensure a rigorous selection criteria and judging process.
About AirAsia & AirAsia X
AirAsia, the leading and largest low-cost carrier in Asia, services the most extensive network with approximately 139 routes. Within 10 years of operations, AirAsia has carried over 100 million guests and grown its fleet from just two aircraft to approximately 106. The airline today is proud to be a truly ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) airline with established operations based in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines 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, India, Australia, Taiwan¸ Iran, Korea, UK, Japan, France and New Zealand. AirAsia was named the World’s Best Low Cost Airline in the annual World Airline Survey by Skytrax for three consecutive years (2009, 2010, 2011).
