Goan owner of AirAsia in battle to control Malaysian skies

Kuala Lumpur, May 6 : The Goan-Portuguese owner of the budget airliner AirAsia, Tony Fernandes, has announced two subsidised offers to counter Malaysia Airline's (MAS) Zero Fare campaign.

Fernandes announced that AirAsia would pay the difference to any of his passengers if they can find any MAS airfare that is lower than the cheapest offered by AirAsia, and his second offer was a sub-Zero Fare campaign.

"Just print out the confirmed booking from MAS and I will pay the difference. As for the sub-Zero Fare, which will be launched in the next few days, it will be cheaper than zero," The Star quoted Fernandes as saying in an interview.

Reacting to the MAS campaign which was launched by its managing director Idris Jala yesterday, Fernandes said he was "very flattered" by the full-service carrier's latest initiative because it was a copy of what AirAsia had been doing.

"This is the10th time that MAS has copied us. I guess imitation is the best form of flattery," he added.

MAS announced that it has launched a new product that it called Zero Fare whereby domestic travellers need only pay the airport tax and surcharges. Jala also announced that the airline had set aside one million tickets for the travel period between June 10 and December 14.

Fernandes also produced a list of prices to compare the fares offered by AirAsia against MAS' to prove that his was cheaper.

He said that he was sure that consumers would know which airline is making a better offer especially since his AirAsia gives better service.

He also revealed that his airline had started selling hot roti canai on board his planes last month and would introduce chicken rice and satay soon.

ANI