“There are two parts of growth here,” Fernandes said. “One is new cities, but the bigger one for me is to provide direct connectivity from the smaller cities.
“Your smaller cities are still very big for us.”
AirAsia, founded in 2001 by Fernandes with two aircraft, offers 17 routes to the mainland with about 160 flights a week. The airline links major Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou with Southeast Asian destinations like Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu and Johor Bahru.
“What I found in an economic slowdown is that people generally go to lower-cost products and lower-cost airlines,” Fernandes said. “I guess we will benefit.
“Maybe they don’t go to Europe or they don’t go to America, but they’ll come to Southeast Asia.”
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