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Anna Healy Fenton

SIA, transport ministry fail to see funny side of AirAsia

AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes  is pretty sure he is not on the Singaporean transport ministry's Christmas card list but the city's residents are warming to the Malaysian low-cost airline and its cheeky advertisements.

The same is probably not the case for two of Singapore's state institutions not known for their sense of humour: Singapore Airlines (SIA) and the Ministry of Transport.

'They don't like me because I tell them what I think,' grins Mr Fernandes, who has scant respect for aviation industry conventions.

Since  AirAsia started flying from Singapore and tiny Senai   airport, 20km away in Malaysia's  Johor state,  the big boys have had new competition on the doorstep.

Initially, Mr Fernandes suspects, SIA laughed at him - a music industry executive trying to start an airline with two planes.

Hunting for a show-stopping advertisement for the Singapore launch, Mr Fernandes thought he would have fun with SIA's famous Singapore girls. 'In Singapore it's nothing but Singapore girls and they've always got this stewardess looking inanely up at the sky.'

So he took 'four of our really good looking girls' for the AirAsia advertisement, with the line: 'New girl in town, half the price and twice the fun.' The SIA building is missing from the advertisement's skyline.

And where did this run? Mr Fernandes' face creases up: 'A whole of a page - page three - of the Straits Times. We got hundreds of letters. People loved it.'

Refusing to discuss AirAsia at all, SIA's response  was curt: 'We didn't actually notice that advert.'

AirAsia's next dig at SIA   came with its Singapore launch, held in a room at the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS), with the SIA building logo clearly visible through the window.

'We must have humour, it's all in jest, good fun,' stresses Mr Fernandes, who started the budget airline  2?  years ago and took delivery of his 15th plane this week. 'We are the Robin Hoods of the airline industry and we are having fun.'

He ran Warner Music in Malaysia for 12 years and also worked for Virgin, making the Peter Gabriel Sledgehammer video and pop videos for Norwegian group A-Ha.

Then two weeks ago, things got serious. AirAsia's two shuttle buses from the city to Senai were impounded by Singapore's Land Transport Authority. Mr Fernandes  says they were held for nine hours but  charges have yet to materialise.

This is not cricket, he feels. 'They are doing their best to stop our buses - well they are stopping our buses.' How? 'By not giving licences when everything was in order, paperwork, insurance, everything. On one side you have SIA saying there should be an open free market. Now we feel we've been discriminated against.

'Why can't we co-operate like Hong Kong does with Macau? Let the consumer decide - Senai or Changi.'

After several calls to the Ministry of Transport, one spokeswoman agreed to talk.

'On March 2, 2004, the Land Transport Authority took enforcement action against the two buses operating without the necessary licences between Senai airport and Lavender MRT station,' she said.

'The investigations are in progress. We will confirm the action to be taken when  they are complete.'

AirAsia responded to the bus episode with another humorous attack: 'You know Singapore has those T-shirts, 'no jaywalking, no spitting'? Well our ad says that - and 'no shuttles for Senai ... but fortunately low-priced flights are still legal. See you in Senai'.' Mr Fernandes just cannot help himself.

And now, irony of ironies, SIA has  launched  its own low-cost airline - Tiger.

'I was told the chairman of SIA called low-cost carriers 'weeds' recently. He must have forgotten he has one himself now. So our new ad ... well, suffice to say we have designed something  appropriate.'



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