AirAsia renames holding firm, appoints Jamaludin Ibrahim to chair independent board

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AirAsia Aviation Limited, the holding company for the airline group, has been renamed as AirAsia Aviation Group Limited. It has also appointed former Axiata Group CEO Jamaludin Ibrahim (pictured) as independent non-executive chairman, providing fresh perspectives and robust board leadership to support strategic growth of the airline businesses.

He has more than 40 years of experience, including 16 years in IT and 23 years in telecommunications. Jamaludin was the group CEO of Axiata Group for almost 13 years, and as the group CEO of Maxis Communications for 10 years.

The name change reflects the aviation group’s recovery and growth strategy by consolidating all of its airline operations under one entity to focus expansion of the business within the larger ecosystem. It also comes after the recent group holding name change from AirAsia Group to Capital A.

Under the new structure, AirAsia Aviation Group Limited will oversee all airlines in Capital A, as well as related international support functions including AirAsia Consulting, shared corporate services division AirAsia SEA, the Santan food group and the ground handling services joint venture business called GTR.

The formation of a new board of directors for AirAsia Aviation Group Limited, comprising all independent directors, (except the group CEO), will be separate to the board of Capital A. This provides a dedicated focus on the aviation businesses to support sustainable growth including setting up new joint ventures in the future. The plan is to assemble a balanced mix of industry-leading professionals with diverse backgrounds and complementary skills. It is envisaged that the board will comprise some of the best in their respective areas including well-known figures from the various countries it operates in to ensure diversity in nationalities, skills and gender.

Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A, said during a virtual press conference that the company wants the independent board to give fresh ideas and perspectives to the leadership, which he said is "an exciting pivot" for the company after 20 years. "The independent board will give management support and give shareholders confidence that we are refreshing ourselves and coming up with new ideas. In many ways, this is a major disruption for AirAsia which I'm extremely proud of," he said.

Fernandes also said that the company is "close to announcing a new airline", with the announcement expected approximately in the next two months. That said, AirAsia will still be very focused on ASEAN. "We are very excited about Malaysia and Thailand, and particularly excited about the Philippines and Indonesia. In some ways, COVID-19 has given us a second chance to go out there and capture a huge market share, which we are tremendously excited about," he said.

Meanwhile, Jamaludin explained that he has two main focus areas, with the first being working with the management to attract and develop best talent for growth. His next area of focus would be digitalisation. "AirAsia has already made great inroads, and in fact shown spectacular performance into digitalisation its growth. The independent board will work closely with the management team to ensure it can further enhance the company in making travel experiences seamless and paperless in the coming years," he added.

Outside ICT, Jamaludin has served in numerous boards and in other non-executive roles in public and private sectors. He is now the chairman of Prasarana Malaysia, the chairman of QSR Brands (M) Holdings, and a board member of Sunway Group. He is also the pro-chancellor of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

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