Before MAS 'closes shop' I would like to share my humble assessment with anyone who cares about our national airline which has gone through 'hell' due to mismanagement, sabotage and treachery by person and persons known or unknown.
Firstly, we all agreed that the owner of AirAsia and AirAsia X, Tony Fernandez, is a businessman. We all know that a businessman would be quite stupid to stand for competition. Forget about ideas of free market or ‘may the company with the best business model succeed’. We know that Malaysia is no place for a free market economy.
In the light of what MAS has done to him, like what British Airways that had done everything possible to stifle Richard Branson's Virgin airlines, are we suppose to believe that Tony put his money into without any short-term and long-term ulterior business motives?
Also, isn't a good business sense to buy up your competitor with a view to killing it so that the market is left to yourself? Some people may want to do a bit of Google on how Haagen Daz started as a struggling ice-cream company whose progress was sabotaged every step of the way by older ice-cream companies. Now Haagen Daz does what it wants because of its monopoly of the market.
Fernandez has already done the initial work by making his brand 'loved' by everybody. A lot of people owe their livelihood to him by way of his huge advertising budget including the media, whereas MAS has already become shall we say, a tired old man. If Japan Airlines can 'gulung tikar', what is so special about MAS. This is the age of 'cheapo' not the service.
Like Fernandez said 'Now everybody Can Fly' no matter if you are constantly put through to delays, almost non-existent leg room, RM4 for a small bottle of mineral water, etc with IATA a dead duck like the United Nations.
Fernandez has already made his presence felt when in November FireFly will be no more, to be replaced by Sapphire Airways to ply all the domestic routes in direct 'competition' with Air Asia. Meanwhile MAS will take care of all the international routes in competition with Air Asia X.
We all know that AirAsia and AirAsia X are expanding all the time. In fact, a lot of foreign airlnes want to do codesharing with AirAsia X, not with the old MAS.
So what is going to happen in the very near future?
My assessment is Fernandez will do everything possible to create all kinds of 'air pockets' to Sapphire and MAS, which will then be translated into bad revenue numbers for every quarter. Fernandez will then scream from the wings of the new Airbus 380 that his 'investment' is not giving any returns.
With the world in trouble everywhere, everthing is on Fernandez's side.
The final curtain will be when Khazanah throws its hands up in the air and goes to the superpilot and mahaguru Fernandez for answers. Fernandez will then execute his coup de grace.
Sitting in the top chair in the top deck of the 80 (by now already painted in AirAsia X livery), Fernandez will say: "Listen you guys, with problems everywhere, it seems there is only room for one, be it domestic, regional and long haul, and you all know that only AirAsia and AirAsia X have all the experience and the expertise to do it."
As for the poor passengers I am afraid mineral water will now cost RM 5 and the pitch (legroom) will be two more inches narrower.
