Air Hostesses, Loaders Turn Pilots At AirAsia

MUMBAI: In his latest visit to India, AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes pointed to an air hostess and announced the company will help her "realise her dream" of becoming a pilot. By his side sat AirAsia India CEO Mittu Chandilya, a former model, and among the audience was India finance chief Vijay Gopalan, who has previously sung for and acted in Tamil movies.

While, AirAsia India's fate in a turbulent sky of cut-throat competition is unknown, its quirky hiring has certainly caught the industry's attention. "It's true AirAsia has made some unusual choices," said Manish Sabharwal, chairman of staffing firm Teamlease Services. "This is something that AirAsia does globally too, and a different pair of eyes always makes things interesting," he added. Out-of-the-box appointments across the board have been integral to the AirAsia story, almost as much as its aggressive fares.

Bo Lingam, Air Asia's chief of operations, Kathleen Tan, its former regional commercial director, and Tassapon Bijleveld, CEO of Thai AirAsia, have all joined the airline from Warner Music International, the music company that Fernandes quit as Southeast Asian regional vice-president to launch AirAsia back in 1993. The airline abounds with stories of ground staff elevated to the levels of cabin crew and pilots.

Fernandes himself often narrates the story of a loader he spotted just before the take-off of a Cebu-Kota Bharu flight. The loader struck him as brighter than the rest and he asked him whether he aspired to be a pilot. the loader scored record marks at the academy and in seven years has graduated to being the captain of a brand new A320 plane.

In fact, 11 out of AirAsia's first crew of 18 pilots had joined the airline as baggage handlers, cabin crew, cabin assistants or store boys.

Sonal Agrawal, managing partner at CEO search firm Accord India, said Fernandes "relies on his instincts". But, is it a sound strategy, particularly in a highly competitive industry? Or, is it just that the AirAsia founder is so immensely lucky to have got most his quirky calls right?