AIR-WARS AND FLYING ROTI CANAI!

There’s a war brewing in the skies and it is all about money, or the lack of it. While Tony Fernandes has succeeded as the familiar poster boy for AirAsia, MAS’ Idris Jala has been quite the opposite, avoiding directly selling himself to the public. But all that changed, when Idris took to primetime tv to announce his zero-fare offer to all Malaysians, putting on a sales pitch quite uncharacteristic of Malaysia Airlines.

Many know that bargain basement prices have always been AirAsia’s war cry, but when the prestigious national airline begins trumpeting free seats, the public was sure to be stumped. Which made Tony sit up the next day and snap back. Because with 1.3 million zero fare seats up for grabs, anything was possible; anyone could fly! The last thing he needed was a spanner in his forecast of 20% growth in AirAsia’s passenger volume for 2008.

He hit out at Malaysia Airlines for competing directly with his business model and at the same time not allowing the budget carrier to compete against the national airline. While he nervously brushed aside Malaysia Airlines’ radical announcement as ‘imitation is the best form of flattery’, the undercurrents were too serious to ignore. Amidst all the rhetoric, the prospect of being locked out of the low-fare passenger market through promotional extensions of MAS’ zero-fare platform with other equally attractive configurations was something Air Asia could ill afford in its space.

A battle of semantics also showed up Tony talking about a sub-zero fare position. Hey, now you can get paid to fly? Or is he talking about lower fuel surcharges for travellers? Dicy territory in these trying times. After all AirAsia X is already working on a 2 US cents per available seat kilometre (ASK) cost structure, which is lower than AirAsia’s 2.7 US cents and the 4 to 5 US cents for full service carriers.

The flurry of exchanges did however throw up a hot roti canai or two in the air, and my eternal favourite - chicken rice. Combo that with the best nasi lemak in the sky, and Tony has me eating out his hands!

He went on to say MAS should work together with AirAsia instead of competing and accused the full service airline of ‘surrendering’ to Singapore Airlines (SIA): “MAS and AirAsia will go to war and the only beneficiary will be SIA!”

So will the open skies policy in 2009 be the death knell for both players if this fight for crumbs persists? Or should I just shut up and ride on the tail wind?

Sources: Adopted from Adoi News Desk