Tony Fernandes, AirAsia CEO, has been lauded for putting himself in the middle of AirAsia QZ 8501 crisis, after the flight carrying 162 crew and passengers went missing on Dec. 28.
At the time it vanished from the Surabaya - Singapore route, it appeared to be an incident similar to the mysterious vanishing of the Malaysian Airlines MH370 flight on its way to Beijing. However, quick cooperation with the Indonesia Navy search team led to AirAsia CEO Fernandes taking the helm at providing information for relatives, leading transparent press conferences and promising to retrieve crew and passengers on board.
"I don't think this will break them," said Zulkifli Hamzah, research chief at Malaysia's MIDF Amanah Investment Bank. "I think the main thing right now is to protect their brand, and I think that will be instrumental in the future of their company."
Indonesia has not fared well in international safety rankings. In 2007, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration gave the country a Category 2 ranking, which means Indonesia's regulations do not comply with international safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
AirAsia and its subsidiaries, AirAsia Indonesia had an impeccable safety record. The AirAsia QZ 8501 is the first AirAsia aircraft to go down in its history. "They haven't had any safety problems. They have a very good safety record," said Greg Waldron, Flightglobal's Asia managing editor.
Amid the ruckus behind the search and rescue, locating debris, and taking bodies back to their families, Fernandes has kept all those concerned via social media. He would tweet three times on a daily basis to keep everyone apprised of the AirAsia search for bodies and operations searching for the fuselage and flight recorders.
"Many sensational headlines on AirAsia. We have kept quiet as our focus is on families. One by one facts will come out and clear us," tweeted Fernandes informally, but making the point not to exaggerate AirAsia's mistakes including directives that AirAsia did not have permits to fly on Sundays on the Surabaya - Singapore route. Fernandes disagreed and clarified that permits for specific days were changed from time to time.
"Don't let newspaper headlines deflect the amazing job you do. AirAsia changed flying," AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes tweeted to his staff asking them to stay strong on his twitter handle @tonyfernandes.
