● AirAsia Group Berhad CEO Tony Fernandes appointed as CEO of airasia.com
● AirAsia Group Berhad Deputy CEO (Airlines) Bo Lingam will continue to lead the airline business as AirAsia Group Berhad President (Airlines) and also head up AirAsia’s shared services company AirAsia SEA
● AirAsia Group Berhad Deputy CEO (Technology and Digital) Aireen Omar appointed as AirAsia Group Berhad President (RedBeat Ventures)
SEPANG, 16 August 2019 - AirAsia today announced a leadership reorganisation in support of its transformation into a travel and financial platform company and to build airasia.com into a lifestyle brand.
AirAsia Group Berhad CEO Tony Fernandes will double up as CEO of airasia.com - AirAsia's travel and lifestyle e-commerce platform - with an eye to appointing a new CEO who will report to him in due course.
Joining him are AirAsia Berhad Chief Commercial Officer Karen Chan, who will drive all commercial functions as airasia.com's Chief Commercial Officer, and Spencer Lee, who will take up the role of airasia.com Chief Operating Officer managing the online business portfolio that includes OURSHOP, AirAsia WiFi (ROKKI), hotel partnerships and others.
A Chief Product Officer for airasia.com will also be appointed to head up the product teams, while AirAsia Software Engineering and Technology (AASET) Head Elias Vafiadis will continue to lead software engineering, all reporting to Fernandes in the interim.
AirAsia Group Berhad Deputy CEO (Airlines) Bo Lingam has been appointed as AirAsia Group Berhad President (Airlines) and will also head up AirAsia SEA (formerly known as AirAsia Global Shared Services), a shared services centre that provides corporate and support services to AirAsia. He will continue to run the core airline business and drive customer service improvements and cost efficiencies through digitalisation and the One AirAsia initiative.
Aireen Omar has been appointed as AirAsia Group Berhad President (RedBeat Ventures) and will head up the corporate venture capital arm. In this role, she will focus on seeking out new companies and technologies to power AirAsia's core business while still overseeing the company's digital businesses such as BigPay, Teleport and AirAsia BIG Loyalty.
AirAsia Group Berhad CEO and airasia.com CEO Tony Fernandes said, "We are taking travel to another level by giving our guests a truly integrated and end-to-end experience. Not just flights but hotels, activities, lifestyle, e-commerce and more. Right at the heart of this is airasia.com, which will be a lifestyle brand that offers a frictionless travel experience of discovery, booking, pricing, branding, deals for all our products and partnerships.
"To make this work, we have to have the right structure in place and with today's changes, I believe we have put in place the right foundations that will allow us to really drive our digital and ancillary business, which I see eventually contributing up to 70 percent to earnings."