Manila: No-frills airline group AirAsia is taking a bolder move to strengthen its brand identity within Asean.
The group yesterday unveiled an aircraft with colourful livery showcasing designs inspired by textiles, architecture, art and nature from all 10 Asean nations with the tagline "I Love Asean".
All aircraft of sister airlines registered in Asean, including those in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines -- numbering more than 172 Airbus A320s and 30 A330-300s -- will carry the Asean emblem set in a red circle with 11 yellow paddy or rice stalks drawn in the middle.
These form part of AirAsia's new Asean-themed initiatives focused on education, talent development and the economy, to foster greater association of its brand with the region of about 640 million people.
Even AirAsia group chief executive Tony Fernandes, who has worn his iconic red AirAsia baseball cap over the past 15 years, yesterday vowed to wear a new red cap with "Asean United" imprinted on it to accentuate the message.
AirAsia, Asia's largest low-cost airline group, has been campaigning as the group for Asean as it aggressively spreads its wings in the region with the creation of sister airlines in major markets such as Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Yesterday's unveiling of the Asean-themed aircraft at the Philippine air force's Villamor Air Base near Manila was the second of its kind.
The first AirAsia aircraft with such a theme came out in 2008 with the "Truly Asean" tagline.
In a media briefing yesterday, Mr Fernandes acknowledged that the latest Asean-themed exercise will form part of the group's ongoing effort to make itself a single regional airline group.
The group, founded in Malaysia, is pursuing creation of a single, publicly traded holding company for its business units in Southeast Asia to propel the expansion of AirAsia in the region.
In June, Mr Fernandes identified challenges to get the structure off the ground.
First is persuading Asean leaders to ease outdated foreign-ownership limits for airlines.
"We are pushing Asean governments to say that we want to invest more in Asean, and these old-fashioned rules of owning 49% [or less] need to be looked at," Mr Fernandes said then.
The broad intention is for flagship AirAsia Berhad, Philippines AirAsia, Thai AirAsia and Indonesia AirAsia to be placed under a holding company, which would be listed in "all the big Asean markets".
This is separate from a plan to list Philippines AirAsia and Indonesia AirAsia in their home markets.
Yesterday Mr Fernandes noted: "My ultimate dream is to create an Asean holding company that fully owns all the airlines, flying the Asean flag, and will be much more efficient.''
Meanwhile, the AirAsia supremo said the group is bringing more "great" Asean-made products for sale aboard its airliners next year.
"We start with products from countries we know best: Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines," he said.