AirAsia Berhad is a Malaysian low-cost airline headquartered in Kuala Lumpur. It has been named as the world’s best low-cost airline, and an initiate of low-cost travel in Asia.The airline was established in 1993 and started operations on 18 November 1996. It was originally founded by a government-owned conglomerate DRB-Hicom. On December 2, 2001, the heavily-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 Kuala Lumpur International Airport at breakneck speed, undercutting former monopoly operator Malaysia Airlines with promotional fares as low as RM1 (US $0.27). AirAsia has been expanding rapidly since 2001, to become an award winning and the largest low cost carrier in Asia. Its slogan is “Now Everyone Can Fly”. Its main hub is the low cost carrier terminal (LCCT) at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), which is the first of its kind in Asia and was opened on 23rd March 2006. Its affiliate airlines Thai AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia, Philippines AirAsia, AirAsia Japan and AirAsia Zest have hubs in Don Mueang International Airport, Soekarno–Hatta International Airport, Clark International Airport, Narita International Airport, Ninoy Aquino International Airport and Mactan-Cebu International Airport respectively.
AirAsia currently operates more than 142 routes to 78 destinations, with over 400 daily flights covering Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines and Thailand and with domestic and international routes, primarily from Kuala Lumpur, to Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, People’s Republic of China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, South Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Vietnam.
AirAsia’s vision is to be the largest low cost airline in Asia and serving the 3 billion people who are currently underserved with poor connectivity and high fares. Their missions are to be the best company to work for whereby employees are treated as part of a big family,create a globally recognized ASEAN brand, to attain the lowest cost so that everyone can fly with AirAsia and Maintain the highest quality product, embracing technology to reduce cost and enhance service levels.