Asia Air takes on Tiger Airways..Big Head TF

[scandicstar]

Last week, AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes labelled Tiger Airways’ senior management as a “bunch of white guys” trying to run an airline, reported the Bangkok Post.
The Malaysian business mogul was expressing his belief that Tiger’s upcoming venture with Thai Airways (Thai Tiger Airways) was doomed to fail because it did not have a management that understood Thai customs and cultures.
“We’re Asians, not a bunch of white guys running the airlines,” Fernandes was quoted as saying.
Tiger Airways is headed by Briton, Tony Davis.
Tan, though, defended her Air Asia boss and said to take his recent quotes with a pinch of salt.
“All I can say is that I’ve worked with Tony Fernandes for 16 years and the last thing he would be is a racist,” she said.


I think TF is thinking that he is invincible now and getting BIG Headed and he is now at the last thing ever do, a racist as quoted by Mrs Tan.

[Canoli Driver]

Wow... I don't even know what to say to that. Its just more proof in the pudding.... Stay away. Something wrong with white guys running an airline?

[mokham]

Definitely a racist rant from a pudgy bangla look alike. He is entitled to his opinions in private but to air it in a Bangkok post interview is uncouth.

[duyentranvan]

yes TF is definitely a racist. He's a two faced snake...

[capson]

Its funny how he wants competition on Sydney and KL route, and yet bitch about comp on his home turf....:rolleyes:
Absolute Bull Sh%T artis...:hmm:

[Metro man]

So how would a bunch of Asia guys trying to run an airline in Australia manage ? Surely they wouldn't understand the local culture either.:confused:

[a345xxx]

Shoes on the other foot I believe...... :)

[scandicstar]

When you are at the top of the world please do not belittled others whom you think that wont come close to your success. All airlines in the world how successfully and invincible them seem to be, had their fair share of downs from time to time.

Quote :
Speaking to Yahoo! Singapore, AirAsia’s Regional Head for Commercials, Kathleen Tan, says her airline does not even consider Tiger Airways to be their biggest rival.
“Tiger isn’t our biggest rival. How can they compete with such a small fleet (19 planes), compared to ours (103 planes)?” Tan, who’s in her 40s, said during a phone interview.
She also challenged the low-cost carrier that is partly owned by Singapore Airlines to respond to a recent marketing ad blitz that saw AirAsia take out full-page advertisements on two national newspapers with a tagline that screamed: “If Tigers were meant to fly, they would be born with wings.”
The advertisements included the drawing of a Tiger cub in tears.
In a reference to Tiger’s recent flight cancellations in August and early October, AirAsia also stated in the ad that they are “guaranteed to fly everyday”.
Explaining the idea behind the ad, Tan said: “We took this opportunity to come up with something fun and cheeky with clever and innovative marketing. We did not intend to be hostile,” .
Does she think it went overboard ? "


Would not be nice when one day she have to eat humble pie.

[duyentranvan]

she's a who**... isnt she the one who slept with TF?

[Meccano]

Well, from my chats with the guys I know in Tiger - I think TF is right. Tiger is running a sh1t operation, and they're losing pilots hand over fist because of the crummy pay. The CP recently resigned, the trainers are threatening to leave, and flights are being cancelled through crew shortages.
I'm told the Tiger guys were expecting an announcement about a payrise at a recent management meeting - only to be told they were getting a PAY CUT! Insanity!

I doubt that persuaded them to hang on any longer....:}

Shortly thereafter my contacts in the crewing biz told me Tiger are now offerring 6 month contracts at exorbitant rates, in an effort to plug the gap. 13K USD per month, plus 3.5K USD in housing. Very nice. Unless you're one of the poor shmucks on local terms.
What'll happen in 6 months? Will the contractors all accept local terms (hah, joke) or up sticks and leave? Deja Vu!!
Thus, the problem has just been kicked down the road a bit.

Who are these idiots in charge of Tiger?
Some White Guys!?
Actually, lets be more accurate.
A BRIT. From a Brit LoCo.
Having no doubt been accustomed to treating his people back in UK like sh1t (huge pilot over-supply, falling T&C's across the board etc etc) he no doubt simply expects the same treatment will be swallowed at Tiger.
Big mistake.
For one thing, there are plenty of jobs appearing, and experienced drivers are in short supply. So no need to put up with that BS.

In this way TF was right in what he said. Mr.Davis was quick to jump on the 'racist' bandwagon, always the first refuge of the guilty and the liar.
It wasn't a racist comment - it was a statement of fact. The likes of Davis - and others - are all graduates from the College of WBLMOL....Wannabe Like Michael O'Leary. They've got the attitude alright, but lack the common sense to see it doesn't work here - like Tony said.

[krismiler]

Unfortunately for Tony Davis, he has caused considerable embarrassment to Singapore Incorporated. Its status as a transportion hub is vital to its economic interests and anything which rocks the boat, such as large numbers of angry travellers who can't get to where they want to be, doesn't go down well.

Full page advertisments in the local press by a Malaysian company, making fun of an airline in which the Singapore government and Singapore airlines have a considerable share holding must be causing a few red faces amongst the ruling elite.

Tony wanted to reduce his pilot costs and decided that the global financial crisis provided a good opportunity with a plausible reason for a pay cut and an expected oversupply of tech crew depressing the job market.

When that didn't turn out as planned he tried to plug the gap with cut price Indonesian pilots. That wasn't very successful, and now he has had to bite the bullet and bring in contract pilots from Europe who will be recieving nearly US$18 000 a month into their offshore accounts if they if they stay close to the flight time limits.

Staff morale has obviously been affected with turnover of captains believed to be nudging 60% so far this year. First officers with enough time to move on, but not enough to take advantage of the captain shortage and swap seats, are also reported to be leaving.

Talk down at the pub suggests Hong Kong Airlines despite all the negative comments on the Fragrant Habour forum is the destination of choice, with Jetstar Asia following behind.

[Slasher]

I agree - but what TF shouldve said was a “bunch of ignorant
white pommey twits” trying to run an airline.

From what Ive heard over the years Davis and co think they could
apply there own cultural atitudes on the locals and thats why it
doesnt work. He and his minions have trashed over locals and has
built up considerable resentment.

The amount of people who are Davis fans would fill a shoe box. Im
no fan of TF but Im definitley with him on this one.

[a345xxx]

The reality is in this region AK is the big boy of LCC's. Tiger on the other hand is a sub standard player at best, they're not even close to Jetstar who is setting itself up nicely to be the next big player in the region.It will be interesting to see how long Temasik and SIA allow this circus to go on.

TF's statement is not so much racial as it is arrogant....... as they say... to the winner go the spoils!

[ZFT]

..and this is precisely why the proposed Thai Tiger is such a joke and is doomed to fail.

[thrustpig]

Ladies and Gentlemen, if things are so messed up at tiger, it begs the question, Why is the SIA group letting them flounder?
Why are they allowing the "good" name of a Singapore Associated organisation to be dragged through the mud?
Why are the resources / skills / knowledge and experience of the people of the SIA group being held back?
Has SIA put tiger in the too-hard basket or is there another reason for the apparent ever quickening path to extinction?

[a345xxx]

Good question....

Tony Davis is however is on a real sweet deal and I think they don't want to remove him for a couple of reasons...

1)Would make them(Singapore) look foolish and concede defeat to TF

2)The pay off would be public and create an outcry ie like him cashing out half his share options recently... showing everyone his confidence in Tiger.

[jamestaylor]

To all,

Sorry but none of this is good. But to be fair TD is not a good guy. Treats all like crap especially pilots who he describes as high paid bus drivers. He also has such a huge ego its hard for his massive head to fit thru the door. Now TF is not much better but why did he lower his self to TD level?????????

[squak7700]

Looks like they have to cancel their Bangalore flight,reported in ChannelNewsAsia,apparantly due to severe crew shortage.

[a345xxx]

Won't be the last.........

[chairwrecker]

for those in the know in Asia's LCC world, it's not just about Tiger and Airasia nowadays. some of the other operators in philippines and korea are already gaining strength.

TD in Tiger and MB in Cebu Pacific both idolize the calculated buffoonery of Michael O Leary, however they dont have the sophistication to adapt their styles to Asia, where a lot of subtlety is required to mix with their preferred in-your-face stance, thus building widespread local resentment against them "white boys". do i think TF is racist? absolultely not. does TF sound racist how he said it? i suppose yes. do i think TF was arrogant? definitely yes, but not nearly as arrogant as TD and MB thinking their asian employees will just embrace their pushy style.

[scandicstar]

Both TD and TF are very arrogant. Their 'arroganism' ( If there is such word ) or arrogans differs in many ways. This one 'T' is trying a hard ball tactic trying to cut corners hoping to squeeze the pilots wages which eventually backfired. If he did that last 3 years it would have been ok. TIME HAS CHANGED. TD has no hindsight after what had happened. ( ...updating...still no BREAKING NEWS... )

The other 'T' thought he is already at the top of the world with 2 consec years running world's best LCC and thinks he is going to be there forever. Little he realised ( ...he is now realising...) that the other Asians LCCs are catching up with him with even more aggresive ways trying to get some share of the cake. The name " Air Asia" is synonym with Asia so there will be fierce competition within Asian markets. The good thing about TF is:ok: , he promised his pilots good remunerations he knows when to pay or not to pay more for his pilots. Since Air Asia pilots do not belong to any union TF wil play by the ears to fulfil his promise. Time will tell.:hmm:

[boocs]

arrogance

b.

[hapimus]

go tony fernandes go

[Dani]

Well, if Tiger's ops is "sh1ite", how is then AirAsia's?

I guess any given employee in AirAsia earns about half of that in Tiger.

You might call this a success for TF... - of course you cannot compare those two. AirAsia is a LCC from a poor and corrupt country. There are no white men in power in Malaysia or in Thailand.

You as a pilot community should be very happy about LCC in the class of Tiger. They don't offer the same T&Cs as SIA or Cathay. But at least they are worlds apart from airlines in Malaysia, Indonesia or Thailand. What would you do if Tony Fernandez would take over the world? - your T&Cs would errode much more.

But the problem will be solved by itself. Airlines from such countries have a miserable safety record, and it's a matter of time until it shows in Airlines with managers who blame white guys...

Dani

[FlyByWire1]

My friend..tell me one country that does not have any 'Corrupt' goverment or leader to some extent.Open your heart honestly..Please don't be mistaken here for any racial issue what is only apparent from what I would think is just Biz rivalry or competition..They have issues with MAS before attacking each other for their own reason..to survive in this cut throat biz hope to make some money by end of the day credibly without any bailout or direct support.Imagine yourself my friend running your 'own' airline..Or running your household without any undesired interference from your neighbour which you may not quite fancy...Imagine truthfully.

By the way I was told once by a swiss Capt 'Swiss Air was once a good airline and one of the best benefit a pilot could ask for'..Heck most of them are rich enough (I do fly with quite a no of them) that I wonder why they need to fly still...Then maybe because just the passion of it...He told me 'It's a sexy job' Even at the age of 60...So where are they now?Some corrupt practices maybe..I don't know maybe...

Also so that u don't get me wrong I don't work for AA, as a person TF may not be your cup of tea or for everyone but then as a businessman I think his achievement speaks for itself despite all the odds coming from the M'sian goverment,MAS,TD or you even.The amount of jobs created nothing has to do with the government..He must be saying if he could meet you..'Bring it on'

[a345xxx]

Good try Dani... :) Nice wind up.... I think most of the guys on the boards can smell you a mile away. :)

[etops777]

agree with a345xxxx

[scandicstar]

Yeah, wonder how could Swiss Air gone bankrupt at one point of time whilst the other airlines were making tons of profit.:hmm:

[flightleader]

Hey,

Why don't you all cut each other some slack and enjoy the 'Tiger' show.......Thai style if you like...!

[Slasher]

You as a pilot community should be very happy about LCC in the class of Tiger.

If THAT isnt a brazen management line I dont know what is!

You reek of it pal! :yuk:

[atuk]

Hey Dani....why don't you go back to Switzerland and fly for Air Baboon :}:}:E