AirAsia CEO and co-founder Tony Fernandes has plans to launch a new airline within the next two months, even as escalating tensions in the Middle East and rising jet fuel prices place fresh pressure on airline operating costs and fares globally.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Fernandes described the moment as an opportunity rather than a setback and said, “Why waste a crisis?” He added that the low-cost carrier had begun repositioning aircraft for the new venture, though he declined to disclose details around the airline’s name, routes or target markets. At the time of publication, AirAsia had not responded to Campaign’s request for comment.
From a marketing standpoint, the announcement is a play on contrarian brand-building that's meant to signal confidence to consumers, investors, and competitors when the industry is in retreat, observed Shanker Joyrama, CEO, Orion Digital.
Joyrama told Campaign the crisis presents an opportune moment for the new airline to leverage first-mover advantage and a significantly larger share of voice.
"When competitors are pulling back on investment, whether on ad spend or media spend, entering the market now is strategically cheaper and less cluttered," he added.
AirAsia's timing is aggressive by any measure. The airline's refusal to hedge fuel costs has taken a toll, with its shares declining around 35% since the Iran conflict began. Yet Fernandes positions the launch as a bet on oil prices falling.
The announcement follows AirAsia's multibillion-dollar order for 150 Airbus A220 planes as part of Fernandes' push to expand the fleet with smaller, nimbler jets serving underserved Asian routes.
Despite skyrocketing airfare, regional travel is showing no signs of slowing down. Nine in 10 APAC consumers are planning an international trip in 2026, with 61% expecting to travel in the first half of the year, according to a Klook report. In Southeast Asia, digital travel spend rose 13.3% in 2025, outpacing expenditure on groceries and gas by 3.3 times, per a 2026 analysis by Visa and Google.
Joyrama drew a parallel to how some travel brands emerged stronger from Covid-19 by investing through the downturn rather than retreating. Notably, AirAsia fast-tracked its super platform, Move, during the pandemic to deliver 51% revenue growth by Q4 2021, which made up 36% of total revenue, even before flights fully resumed.
"If you look back at Covid-19, brands that succeeded leaned in and invested through the downturn emerge with stronger brand equity. For someone as bold as Fernandes, the timing is right," he said.
Brand sentiment strongly influenced by leadership
According to media intelligence firm CARMA Asia, Fernandes' actions have had an impact on AirAsia's brand perception in recent years.
In 2023, AirAsia's brand sentiment turned sharply negative after Fernandes posted a topless photo of himself on LinkedIn, taken while he was getting a massage during an online meeting. Brand sentiment plummeted from 13.9% negative to 33.2% negative following the post, with positive sentiment sitting at 33.4% before the incident, per data by Carma.
The pendulum swung the other way in 2024, when a TikTok video of Fernandes playfully chiding a passenger for bringing food on an AirAsia flight went viral (screengrab above). Sentiment around Fernandes jumped to 78.6% positive and 0% negative, up from 66.1% positive and 16.9% negative, per Carma's analysis.
In this case, Fernandes' choice to break the news via a news outlet rather than a traditional press conference or media event was itself a brand decision, Joyrama explained.
"It's not a curated media event where the story feels staged—it's through a credible, high-authority platform that reaches investors, corporate decision-makers, and everyday consumers alike. That's a powerful launch pad," he added.
