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Wednesday October 20, 2010

AirAsia chides Singapore rival in newspaper

PETALING JAYA: The rivalry between the two Tonys heading two budget airlines in the region continues – with AirAsia taking out a full-page colour advertisement chiding the Singapore-based Tiger Airways. The advertisement, published in The Straits Times yesterday, depicted a cartoon caricature of a tiger cub on the bottom left with the words: “If tigers were meant to fly, they would be born with wings.” AirAsia put out the advertisement after Tiger Airways had reportedly accused the AirAsia boss of making a racial slur with his “white guys” remark.



Airline rivalry: The AirAsia full-page advertisement that appeared in a Singapore newspaper yesterday.

Tiger Airways, headed by British Tony Davis, had earlier expressed disappointment over AirAsia head Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes alleged racist remarks. In a recent Bangkok Post article, Fernandes expressed his scepticism over Westerners running any successful Asia-based business. “We’re Asians, not a bunch of white guys running the airlines,” Fernandes was quoted as saying, and this caused the eruption of the war of words between the two Tonys. According to reports, the Thai Transport Ministry had opposed the 51:49 joint venture between Thai Airways and Tiger Airways – with local industry players questioning the need since Thai Airways already had a 39% share in Nok Air, Thailand’s budget airline.