AirAsia's brash CEO now searches for right words

An AirAsia logo is pictured at the ticketing counter at Changi Airport in Singapore December 29, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

Fernandes, 50, pioneered low-cost air travel in Southeast Asia, opening up skies previously dominated by full-service carriers like Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways. In 2001, he resigned as vice president for Southeast Asia at Warner Music to enter the airline business, a longtime dream.

With some business partners, he bought struggling AirAsia and its two planes for just 26 cents and assumed its $11.4 million in debt.

He was, in many ways, ahead of the industry curve: He sensed a need for low-cost flights to serve a quickly growing middle class in what's now the world's fastest-growing region for airlines.

The International Air Transport Association predicts that routes to, from and within the Asia-Pacific region will carry an additional 1.8 billion annual passengers by 2034, for an overall market size of 2.9 billion. Within two decades, the region is expected to account for 42 percent of global passenger traffic.

"Air travel is made for Asia," Fernandes told The Associated Press in 2002. "You can generally drive from one end of Europe to another or take a train, but that's not the case here. You want to try driving from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok? Good luck, mate!"

In some ways, Fernandes' career echoes the empire Richard Branson created with his Virgin Group. (Fernandes once worked as an accountant for Branson's company.) AirAsia has expanded beyond Malaysia with affiliates in Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and India, as well as a long-distance airline, AirAsia X. Fernandes has also launched the no-frills Tune Hotels and a mobile phone company and financial services arm, just as Virgin did.

There was even one time when Fernandes beat Branson _ well, actually his Formula One racing team finished two spots ahead of Branson's. The two businessmen had placed a wager on the race. And in May 2013, it was time for Branson to pay up.

Branson had his legs shaved, put on lipstick and squeezed into a red skirt to serve as a flight attendant on an AirAsia flight from Perth, Australia, to Malaysia. In a possible act of revenge, he spilled orange juice on Fernandes, a passenger on the trip.

"He looked at me, I said, 'Don't you dare,' and the next thing I know, he tipped the whole tray on me,"' Fernandes told the AP at the time. "I was walking around the flight in my underwear for a while because I didn't bring another pair of trousers."

Fernandes has had his own share of mishaps.

On the day Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing, Fernandes said on Twitter that the aircraft's radio had failed but that the plane landed and all were safe. He later deleted the tweet. That plane still hasn't been found.

A few weeks later, AirAsia had to pull its inflight magazine for an article boasting that its well-trained pilots would never lose a plane. The magazine was printed before Flight 370 disappeared. But it was a painful poke for a country reeling from the loss.

Now, Fernandes must find the right thing to say as his own plane is lost at sea.

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