The AirAsia Group* including medium haul affiliate airlines AirAsia X and Thai AirAsia X, have been awarded the Top LCC in Asia for 2024 by AirlineRatings.com in its annual Airline Excellence Awards.
Launched in 2001 by Datuk Kamarudin Meranun and Tony Fernandes with just two planes, AirAsia has had spectacular growth over the past two decades to become a dominant force in the Asian region.
The rise of AirAsia that first started out of Kuala Lumpur is, without doubt, one of the airline industry's great success stories. It has had to combat one external crisis after another and adjust to diverse regulatory and competitive pressures, navigating policies designed to support national airlines as it democratised access to air travel and redefined the low cost carrier landscape within Asean and beyond. AirAsia now operates as full-fledged airlines with bases in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Cambodia.
AirAsia Group and its affiliate medium haul airlines have re-written the rule book for airlines in Asia and beyond and today have over 255 aircraft flying to over 165 destinations.
AirlineRatings.com Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas said that the win was "richly deserved."
"Renowned Founder Mr Fernandes, and his executive team including Group CEO Bo Lingam as well as AirAsia X CEO Benyamin Ismail have done an outstanding job guiding the airlines to their market dominant position.
"These airlines have made travel affordable for nearly 800 million passengers throughout Asia and Asia Pacific and they offer outstanding value and a great experience."
Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A and Strategic Advisor to the AirAsia Aviation Group commented, "It has been an incredible journey of recovery, post the worst commercial aviation crisis the world has ever seen. We are thankful and humbled by this award which goes out to all of my airline CEOs and senior team members as well as to the many thousands of 'Allstars' who have gone above and beyond to bring us to where we are now. After surviving many odds, we have put in place the right foundations for significant growth and are about to embark on an exciting new journey with plans to fly to the majority of continents which is another pivotal moment in our reincarnation story.
"The proposed divestment of the AirAsia Aviation Group of airlines from Capital A to AirAsia X is on track and will be a game changer in the industry to ensure significantly more high quality, low cost air travel for short, medium and long haul flights connecting Asia and Asia Pacific to the world at the very best cost."
Bo Lingam, Group CEO of AirAsia Aviation Group said: "AirAsia continues to push the boundaries on what it means to be a low cost carrier because low cost doesn't mean low service for our airlines. As travel demand recovers to pre-pandemic levels, we have over 400 new specification aircraft on order to fuel our ambitious growth plans including flying to places we have never flown before, providing our guests with more value and choice, not only to and from Asia, but across the world.
"Adding to the momentum building from our turnaround strategy, this award is a wonderful testament to the dedication and resilience of the AirAsia team and we thank the experts at AirlineRatings.com for their acknowledgement of our commitment to operational excellence across all that we do."
Benyamin Ismail, CEO of AirAsia X, agreed "This is a strong recognition of the hard work put in by all of our team, to not only survive the extreme effects of the pandemic but come back stronger than ever before.
"We look forward to the great opportunities posed by leveraging strong synergies from Capital A and the AirAsia Aviation Group which will unlock opportunities for our guests to enjoy the value we deliver as they fly smarter in many of our medium to longer haul markets.
"Our 'one airline strategy' positions us as a formidable combined force towards being the leading low cost global network carrier connecting Asia to the world."
*AirAsia, Thai AirAsia, Philippines AirAsia, AirAsia X and Thai AirAsia X