In the news: Executive changes at AirAsia, Straight to Gate with Jetstar, strong Q3 for Amadeus

AirAsia revamps executive team in move to streamline op, spearhead growth

AirAsia on November 6 announced a series of major changes in its management team and board following the recent merging of the regional office’s group functions back into AirAsia Berhad.

In August 2012, the LCC set up AirAsia Asean in Jakarta, Indonesia to be its regional headquarters. Since then the office has achieved its objective in providing focused leadership to the group and guiding expansion within the region, said Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, who has been redesignated as group chief executive officer and non-independent executive director.

(Pictured left: Tony Ferenandes opening AirAsia Asean in Jakarta)

“As such, we are merging most group functions back into AirAsia Bhd to ensure alignment within the core management team and to simplify the operation.”

Fernandes will provide overall leadership to the group in driving brand value, reducing cost and driving efficiencies to improve performance of the airline and other affiliates within the AirAsia network including Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and India.

He added that AirAsia Asean will remain in Jakarta where he will continue to personally lead regional policy engagement. “Jakarta remains the nerve centre of Asean while Indonesia is the region’s largest market by far, and there is still much we want to do there.”

Meanwhile, Dato’ Kamarudin Meranun, who co-founded the airline with Fernandes, has been re-designated as AirAsia’s executive chairman, replacing Dato’ Aziz Bakar who remains as a non-independent non-executive director.

In his new role Kamarudin will take the lead in engaging with the government, aviation regulators and airport authorities in Malaysia.

Elaborating on this Fernandes said, “Kamarudin and I will be more involved in the operations of AirAsia Berhad as we continue our growth in the region and we will continue to focus on reducing costs. AirAsia has been on a cost-reduction drive, which has seen good success in the 3rd quarter and will continue in the 4th quarter.”

Kamarudin said the changes followed months of discussions between himself and Fernandes, and are aimed at sustaining AirAsia’s growth trajectory.

Aireen Omar remains as AirAsia chief executive officer, and will report to the chairman on regulatory and stakeholder management and to the group CEO on operational performance matters.

Rozman Omar will also return to AirAsia as group chief financial officer, while Andrew Littledale will continue as CFO.

With these changes three key people – Fernandes, Kamarudin and  Aireen Omar – will effectively run AirAsia and lead its regional growth.

Skip the queue and head Straight to Gate with Jetstar

Don’t like to queue at check-in counters at airport? Well, Singapore based low cost carrier, Jetstar, is removing this process with its introduction of Straight to Gate service that, it says, “will redefine the travel experience by putting time back into the hands of customers.”

The airline began trials of this service on November 6 at Singapore Changi Airport, allowing passengers on selected routes with no check-in baggage and visa requirements to bypass check-in counters and go straight to the transit area.

Passengers using the service just need to check-in online, print the boarding pass, proceed to immigration and head straight to the departure gate. However, those with checked baggage or require visa verification have to check in at any of the Jetstar counters to get their boarding passes endorsed.

Jetstar Asia CEO, Barathan Pasupathi, said, “We are committed to understanding the needs and wants of our customers and we constantly explore smarter ways to add value to where it matters most, as offering attractive low fares is just part of the story.

Tan Lye Teck, executive vice president for airport management, Changi Airport group, Jetstar’s initiative is in line with the airport’s objective of promoting a seamless and stress-free travel experience for passengers.

According to a recent survey conducted by Jetstar Asia among 1,840 respondents ((see below), Singapore residents spend one hour queuing on average every day, with one in four identifying the airport check-in service as the queue they dislike the most.

Amadeus’s revenue rises 5.8% to €2,362mil for Q3 2013

Amadeus reports strong year-on-year financial and operating results for the first nine months of 2013, ended September 30, 2013.

Adjusted profit for the period reviewed grew 6.3% to €511.2 million. This was supported by an increase in revenue of 5.8% to €2,362 million and a 6.5% growth in EBITDA to €948.9 million.

Both Amadeus’ Distribution and IT Solutions businesses contributed to the good results. Some key highlights:

Distribution

• Distribution revenue increased 5.5% to €1,783.6 million, with air travel agency bookings rising 6.6%, to €340.8 million. This was backed by a 1.8 percentage points expansion of Amadeus’ market share of travel agency bookings to 39.9%.
• In Q3, Amadeus signed new content agreements with several airlines including Cebu Pacific Airways. Over 80% of Amadeus’ bookings worldwide are now made on airlines with whom Amadeus holds such agreements.
• LCCs remain an area of constant growth with LCC bookings from Amadeus’ travel agencies in the third quarter increasing by 18% year-on-year, and 23% year-to-date.
• In Asia Pacific, travel agencies’ customer-based growth continued to grow along with the upselling and resigning of existing clients, which include The Lido Group, a leading independent accommodation aggregator.

IT Solutions

• Revenue from IT solutions rose 6.6% to €578.4 million, where Passengers Boarded strengthened 8.4% to a total of €455.5 million.
• Airline IT continued its track record for steady growth, implementing solutions for further airlines such as for EVA Airways and its subsidiary, UNI Airways. Thai Airways also successfully migrated onto the Altéa platform.
• Garuda Indonesia reaffirmed their partnership with Amadeus by extending their eCommerce agreements.
• Philippine Airlines implemented the Amadeus Travel Intelligence portfolio to aid its recent major expansion plans.

Luis Maroto, president & CEO of Amadeus, said the two key drivers behind the company’s continued growth are its resilient transaction-based model and long-term contracts with recurring revenues.

“Distribution continues to benefit from pockets of growth, supporting our market share expansion, with gains in North America through a large online travel agency deal in addition to our increased activity in the low-cost carrier segment. In IT Solutions we continue to have opportunities to drive new business both through the addition of new customers and the expansion of our existing portfolio.”