Tag: Tony Fernandes

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Delayed Again! Will Richard Branson Ever Dress in Flight Attendant Drag?

April 25, 2011 at 3:02 PM | by | Comments (0)

If you didn’t book your tickets last week for Richard Branson’s in-flight drag performance, you might have a little more time to do so, as it looks like the charity flight will be delayed once again.

Originally things were scheduled for April 1 and then May 1, but now things are being pushed back until July 4. The problem this time is that there are just too many people flying in and out of London to celebrate the Royal Wedding—that’s this Friday in case you didn’t hear. So the flight should leave from London on July 4 on its way to Kuala Lumpur.

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Tickets Now On Sale for Sir Richard Branson's In-Flight Drag Performance

April 18, 2011 at 9:39 AM | by | Comments (0)

There’s less than a month to go until Richard Branson finally walks down the aisle—of an airplane—dressed head to toe as a flight attendant. We’re just wondering if he’s going to sport those snazzy new heels that are on their way to his ladies at Virgin Atlantic.

What happened was he lost a bet with Air Asia's CEO Tony Fernandes regarding whose F1 racing team would have a better 2010 season. Team Lotus did a little better, so now Richard Branson gets to dress in drag and serve drinks on an Air Asia X flight from Kuala Lumpur to London. We like that the man is true to his word and recognizes that a bet is a bet, but more so that he has a great sense of humor.

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Richard Branson Moves April Fool's Day to May 1, When He'll Dress in Flight Attendant Drag

March 29, 2011 at 9:32 AM | by | Comments (0)

Do you enjoy seeing billionaires publicly embarrassed? Then have we got a date for you to mark on your calendar. May 1 is the reschedule date for the Air Asia X flight from Kuala Lumpur to London on which Sir Richard Branson will dress in drag and serve as a flight attendant. Of course this is due to him losing a bet with Air Asia's CEO Tony Fernandes over whose F1 racing team would have a better 2010 season. Fernandes' Lotus won the bet and now, instead of Tony as a Virgin Atlantic trolley dolly, Branson will don an Air Asia skirt suit (hopefully specially made).

You'd think this whole stunt would be best suited to April 1—April Fool's Day—but it's already been delayed. The original drag day was planned for February 21, but had to be postponed due to Branson breaking his leg (after another skier ran into him) on the slopes in Switzerland.

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We'll Be Waiting a Bit Longer to See Richard Branson in Flight Attendant Drag

January 18, 2011 at 11:04 AM | by | Comments (0)

We were all excited for February 21, as that was the day that Richard Branson was supposed to dress in full drag aboard an Air Asia X flight. You might remember that Branson lost a bet to Tony Fernandes, the head honcho over at the Malaysian low cost carrier, over whose F1 racing team would have the better record.

Apparently Branson has a little bit of a knee injury, so it looks like wearing high heels up in the air for a long haul flight might aggravate things a little too much. Over the holidays, another skier ran into him on the ski slopes in Switzerland, and he was forced into the hospital to undergo surgery on his knee.

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Richard Branson, Loser of a Bet, Will Dress in Flight Attendant Drag for Charity Flight

December 15, 2010 at 3:00 PM | by | Comments (0)

February 21. Mark your calendars now, as that's the date Virgin head honcho Richard Branson is due to dress in drag as a flight attendant for Malaysian low-cost carrier Air Asia X. It's all the result of losing a bet he made with buddy, former colleague and fellow multi-millionaire Tony Fernandes, the CEO of Air Asia X.

You see, Branson and Fernandes also both have Formula One racing teams, and the bet had it that whoever had the poorer performing team of the season would be dressing up to work the other's airline on a flight as a regular flight attendant. Since Fernandes' Lotus team ranked higher than Virgin's it's Branson who'll be shaving his legs and donning his Air Asia wings for a February 21st London Stansted - Kuala Lumpur flight on Air Asia X.

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Because of a Bet, Richard Branson Could Become an Air Asia Stewardess

October 13, 2010 at 8:44 AM | by | Comments (0)


This Photoshop comes courtesy of Lotus Racing (Fernandes' team)

Okay, are you sitting down? Listen to this crazy news: Richard Branson made a bet with Air Asia CEO Tony Fernandes that could have one of them cross-dressing in a flight attendant uniform, to work for a day onboard the winner's airline. OMG. It all focuses around this Formula One racing season and the fact that Virgin sponsors a racing team as does Air Asia, so the CEOs are pitted against each other.

ESPN explains how all this funny business got started:

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When an Airplane Gets the Race Car Treatment

Where: Malaysia
September 27, 2010 at 4:49 PM | by | Comment (1)

No, that's not a plane honoring the Green Bay Packers. In fact, it's so far from it. In fact, this Airbus A320 belongs to AirAsia, and the new green and gold livery—the classic British racing colors of Lotus—was unveiled a few days ago as AirAsia's CEO Tony Fernandes announced their F1 team, Team Lotus, for 2011.

Just like one of the racecars, the airplane is branded with the racing team sponsors, including CNN, Tune Hotels (a subsidiary of AirAsia) and Bridgestone tires. We doubt it'll intimidate the other airplanes out on the tarmac, but it sure does look sporty.

[Photo: BangaloreAviation]

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Tune Hotels Will Keep Air Asia Company In Coming To The USA

September 23, 2009 at 5:43 PM | by | Comments (0)

Our sis site HotelChatter does a bang-up job of covering the latest news and trends in the hotel world. We're also including a few links from VegasChatter, the newest member to the family. So check in and stay awhile.

· Tony Fernanades tells us that Tune Hotels will keep Air Asia company in the US

· We took the Zappos headquarters tour!

· A peek at the Hotel Andaz Wall Street (opening in January) and it's pillow puffs.

· Counting down the Dirtiest Pool Scenes in Las Vegas. Ew.

· NYC's Surrey Hotel pitched itself at us

· The most dis-regarded sign in all of Las Vegas

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Talking With Air Asia's CEO Tony Fernandes About US Plans

September 21, 2009 at 9:23 AM | by | Comments (0)

A Jaunted Exclusive

We've been following the secretive saga behind the Air Asia X plane gone native—meaning it slipped into some Oakland Raiders livery—ever since May when it's tail was spotted getting the new paintjob. We speculated that perhaps this meant one of two things: either the Oakland Raiders football team was chartering an AirAsia plane for their season, or Air Asia was readying for some trans-Pacific routes to the United States.

After the plane flew to Oakland for a grand unveiling last week, we had to get to the bottom of the deal. Is Air Asia coming to the United States or what? So we dialed up the Air Asia CEO and mogul Tony Fernandes for a quick rundown of the low-cost carrier's North American plans.

And here's what he said...

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Air Asia X Launches Low-Cost, Long-Haul Service

March 13, 2009 at 9:59 AM | by | Comments (0)

Our London correspondent Julia Buckley is riding on the inaugural Air Asia X flight as we speak. We'll have that flight review for you later but check-out all that happened at the launch party below. Enjoy.

Air Asia X had the weather on their side yesterday when the first-ever no-frills long-haul flight touched down at Stansted. Amazingly there was no rain, but rather sun, a clear sky, and even a prince (only Andrew, unfortunately) to welcome the inaugural flight from Kuala Lumpur to London.

The flight was even 25 minutes early, so everyone was in celebratory form for the launch party at Altitude 360, on the 29th floor of the Millbank Tower, which looks down the Thames past the Houses of Parliament, London Eye and over to St Pauls and the Gherkin. The views were incredible – although most people were tucking into the free-flowing drinks rather than looking outside. Those who did, though, were rewarded by strobe lights swirling the red Air Asia logo around on the building on the other side of the river.

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AirAsia Growing So Much It Deserves Its Own Airport

January 30, 2009 at 9:45 AM | by | Comments (0)

What do you do if your low-cost airline finds the local airport simply too crowded for your liking? Well, if you have the confidence of Tony Fernandes and you're in charge of always-growing AirAsia, you just decide to build your own airport.

AirAsia has plans to build an exclusive-use airport in Kuala Lumpur, closer to downtown than the main airport and ready to fly 30 million AirAsia passengers around annually from March 2011. Tony Fernandes reckons this will cut AirAsia’s costs by 30% and bring down ticket prices even more.

Enter the Malaysian government. Although they approved this airport before, the rumor now is that they will backtrack on the agreement and tell AirAsia to live with the normal airports instead. Pretty safe bet that Tony Fernandes isn't at all impressed with that. And if it means losing our cheaper fares, neither are we.

Related Stories:
· AirAsia Braces Itself For KL Backtrack [AsiaOne]
· AirAsia Unveils Plans for Own Airport [AFP]
· AirAsia’s Grown Uninhibited By Its Narcissism [Jaunted]

[Photo: JasonDGreat]

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AirAsia's Growth Uninhibited By Its Narcissism

Where: Malaysia
November 25, 2008 at 9:15 AM | by | Comment (1)

OK AirAsia, we know you’re one of the few carriers with healthy specs. But we think you might be getting a big ego. First, you offered an on-time guarantee and now your CEO is talking about growing AirAsia X, the company’s Australian subsidiary, tenfold by 2010. That’s faster than when Krispy Kreme suddenly glazed the entire United States in the late '90s.

Both AirAsia X and its Southeast Asian affiliate AirAsia are rapidly buying planes and adding destinations. And as Asian carriers ratcheted up fuel surcharges recently, founder Tony Fernandes scrapped AirAsia’s. Confidence is clearly not a problem for this carrier.

In fact, the one-year-old AirAsia X division will have one billion ringgit ($276 million) in profits by the end of 2009, says CEO Azran Osman Rani. This year’s profits will be about 350 million ringgit.

We’ll tell you if they back up the bluster with a flight review next week: We’re flying AirAsia from Phuket to Bangkok, and we're expecting to be impressed.

Related Stories:
· Malaysia’s AirAsia X Plans to Expand Sales Tenfold [AFP, via Google]
· AirAsia coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: christophe ramos]

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