1. Tan Sri Anthony Francis Fernandes was born on 30 April 1964 and is a Malaysian entrepreneur.
34 Facts About Tony Fernandes
1. 2.
Tony Fernandes turned AirAsia, a failing government-linked commercial airline, into a highly successful budget airline public-listed company.
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Tony Fernandes has since founded the Tune Group of companies.
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Tony Fernandes is the owner of Caterham Group, the parent company of British car manufacturer Caterham Cars.
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Tony Fernandes was born in Kuala Lumpur on 30 April 1964 to an Indian father and a mother of mixed Indian and Asian-Portuguese descent who had been raised in Malacca, Malaysia.
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Tony Fernandes was educated at The Alice Smith School in Kuala Lumpur.
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Tony Fernandes matriculated to the London School of Economics and graduated with a degree in accounting.
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Tony Fernandes worked very briefly with Virgin Atlantic as an auditor, subsequently becoming the financial controller for Richard Branson's Virgin Communications in London from 1987 to 1989 before he joined Warner Music International London as Senior Financial Analyst.
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Tony Fernandes was admitted as an associate member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in 1991 and became Fellow in 1996.
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Tony Fernandes is currently a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
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Tony Fernandes was formerly a Warner Music executive in Malaysia, and Vice President, ASEAN at Warner Music South East Asia from December 1999 to July 2001.
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Tony Fernandes believed Malaysian travellers would embrace a cut-rate air service that would save them time and money, especially in a tight economy.
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Tony Fernandes estimates about 50 per cent of the travellers on Asia's budget airlines are first-time flyers.
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Tony Fernandes was instrumental in lobbying the then-Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in mid-2003, to propose the idea of open skies agreements with neighbouring Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore.
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In 2018 Tony Fernandes announced that more low-cost carrier terminals would be developed, and confirmed that while AirAsia needed new planes, he had not yet decided on an aircraft manufacturer.
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In February 2020, Tony Fernandes stepped aside as CEO of AirAsia as Airbus bribery allegations were probed.
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In 2007, Tony Fernandes started a hotel chain, Tune Hotels, based on the no frills concept.
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Tony Fernandes is the founder of the Caterham F1 Formula One team, which began racing in 2010 as Lotus Racing and raced in 2011 as Team Lotus.
19.
On 16 December 2009, Tony Fernandes accepted a "challenge" from Richard Branson, a fellow airline boss and the owner of Lotus' fellow F1 newcomers Virgin Racing.
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Tony Fernandes' team produced a poster depicting Branson in an Air Asia uniform.
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On 19 December 2012, Tony Fernandes announced that Branson would honour his bet in May 2013.
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Caterham Racing, created by Tony Fernandes, competed in the GP2 Series.
23.
In October 2014, Tony Fernandes sold the team to Teddy Yip Jr.
24.
On 27 April 2011, Tony Fernandes announced that his company had purchased Caterham Cars.
25.
Tony Fernandes was named as chairman of QPR Holdings Ltd.
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Tony Fernandes hired former Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp on 24 November 2012, but he was unable to solve QPR's problems.
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In 2013 Tony Fernandes said in an interview that he would leave the club if he was unable to "fix" their problems.
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Tony Fernandes restored the former QPR badge and colours and engaged more with the community near Loftus Road.
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Tony Fernandes planned to step down and hand over the position of co-chairman to vice chairman Amit Bhatia, a change finalised on 15 August 2018.
30.
Tony Fernandes was previously married to Deborah Lee Bergstrom on 1 June 1994 and separated in 2004.
31.
On 14 October 2017, Tony Fernandes married a South Korean actress, Chloe Kim, at Hotel Cap Estel, in Eze on the French Riviera after having dated her for more than two years.
32.
On 3 October 2021, he announced on his LinkedIn that his third child, Aliyah Ena Tony Fernandes and was born on 14 August 2021.
33.
Tony Fernandes is an Overseas Citizenship of India, owing to his partial Indian ancestry.
34.
Tony Fernandes revealed in a separate interview with The Nut Graph in November 2009 and with Free Malaysia Today in September 2016 that he does not speak Malay, while stating that he can understand the language, but he can't speak it very well.