“We bring experience to a new generation of leaders”
Kathleen Tan, who started her airline career with AirAsia in 2004, and went on to head up commercial and eventually, became CEO of North Asia, has returned to the industry after a four-year break. She’s now executive advisor to MYAirline, a new Malaysian startup airline, which is currently awaiting the official green light to take off.
Tan, who also spent close to three years as Expedia Asia CEO, speaks to WiT about how she wants to make a difference to the new airline and how much things have changed in the low cost airline sector as well as in digital marketing, a world she once ruled.
Q: We all thought you had “retired” although I personally was sceptical. You still have so much to contribute to travel. Why did you want to take up this role at this time?
Sometimes it’s all about timing. I thought I could retire, enjoy life and take a rest. Then Covid happened. Given I had been in travel for many years, I didn’t rush out to travel, I was quite happy staying put in Singapore.
When I was approached, I thought, ‘interesting’. I could leverage my experience and, in some ways, I missed aviation. I knew a lot of people who had lost jobs. I visited the airline first in Kuala Lumpur, to see if it was a good fit. I met many people who had worked with me before – some had left to join other airlines. Their stories touched me. One said he didn’t have a job for a year and he had a father who was dying. Another, a husband and wife team, had no job for more than a year and were living off their savings.
All this, while I was enjoying my life. I felt so bad for the industry where I had spent a big part of my career and I thought, maybe it’s time to go back and help.
Kathleen Tan (centre) with her new team at MYAirline.
Q: A lot must have changed – you joined AirAsia in 2004 as a newbie from the music business and now you’re advising MYAirline in 2022 as a low cost veteran. What’s different?
Well, almost 20 years have passed – I can’t believe it. I notice a new generation of leaders now – Millennials are the leaders. When I came into the business, we were one generation above Millennials, and we were marketing to them. They are born in the mobile age, they are very savvy with software. The tools they have now to enhance safety, increase productivity – live tracking of weather using AI; there’s a lot more automation.
What Captain Koay Cheng Thye and I bring is experience to give back, to coach the new generation. (Captain Koay was a pioneering pilot with AirAsia and he’s now with MYAirline, heading up the training of the flight crew. He flew in the Air Force for 20 years before he went into commercial flying for another 25. Read his story here)
MYAirline: “We want to make it as seamless as possible – it’s not just about cheap fares anymore.”
Q: What are the plans for MYAirline?
Our aspiration is to be a new world airline. The commitment made by CEO Rayner Teo and the leadership is to make MYAirline a customer-centric low cost airline, which we feel is particularly important in this highly digital era post-Covid.
MYAirline was born during the pandemic, set up last year and we are waiting to get the approval to fly. Our second proofing flight was successful and we plan to start operating in the fourth quarter.
We currently have 250 staff and will ramp up to 500 by year end. We will start with two aircraft – A320s – that’s the minimum for an AOC (Air Operator Certificate).
Q: You’re a low cost airline, and to start off, domestic. The low cost market has also changed a lot.
Yes, low cost in Malaysia is now 20 years old. It’s a matured market – consumers have been flying a lot already, so what’s their comfort level now? We want to make it as seamless as possible – it’s not just about cheap fares anymore, and we’re thinking how to evolve. Today, insurance is a must. Food – there’s a lot of f&b in airports now, so we are still thinking about that, exploring new sources of ancillaries.
Coming out of the pandemic, supply will take time to stabilise. Demand will be bigger than supply. Covid taught us a few lessons – when governments opened up, there was a huge surge in travel. Travel makes people happy. It made us realise human interaction is precious and priceless. Everybody is rushing out to travel.
Q: During Covid, domestic travel boomed in many markets including Malaysia. Now with borders opened, do you think it will still be as robust?
People have found new ways to travel domestically. Biking and cycling holidays, family travel – we’re coming in at the right time, launching during the peak season and we won’t price that high. I believe domestic tourism will not disappear, it will do better than before Covid.
Q: You were big on digital marketing, particularly social media, and you worked on the building of the Expedia brand in North Asia as well as South-east Asia. Clearly, that landscape has changed too.
During my break, I wasn’t too active on social media so I am more of a voyeur now (laughs). It’s changed so much, especially with Generation Z and Alpha. Instagram has evolved to be more like TikTok. You see more short form videos, more short text.
It’s interesting – we use TikTok, Facebook and Instagram and they all have different segmentation.
Distribution is also very different from before. We will sell more direct online obviously but the lines are very blurred now. Agoda was only hotels, now it has flights, tours and activities. We will work with agents who want to bundle packages – agents are very resilient, they know how to get low cost ticket and bundle.
We see opportunities for partnerships with brands that can extend our reach.
Q: How about chat commerce?
Still exploring. Our priority is to get the airline off the ground first. But we are in the digital era – I said many years ago, social media is not a nice to have, it’s a must have – even in customer service. Social media can kill a company.
Seats on MYAirline: “AirAsia was born after September 11, MYAirline after Covid. Every crisis has a silver lining.”
Q: I remember, you made a prediction once, about seven years ago, at a WiT conference that mobile would be 20% of AirAsia’s direct channel.
Mobile app only is already 50% of ecommerce in Malaysia.
Q: It’s interesting – the number of airline startups post-pandemic. At the CAPA conference in Manchester in February, the number 58 was mentioned.
AirAsia was born after September 11, MYAirline after Covid. Every crisis has a silver lining. There are lots of planes in the desert, leasing costs are good, but they are rising now. There’s a scramble for pilots. We are lucky – we hired pilots who had no jobs. And we have Captain Koay who has an incredible reputation in the industry.
Q: Finally, how did it feel stepping back into the airline world, four years on?
It was a bit of a shock. I had been in the Covid comfort zone – being a couch potato, learning to bake sourdough, making kombucha and gardening – it was a new world for me after so many years of working. I wanted to tick stuff off my bucket list.
Now I am excited to work with so many young, talented people who are thrilled to be part of something new. I want to coach them, help make their lives bigger. Malaysia is my second home – it helped me build a huge career. Now I want to contribute and do my bit.
