Tan Sri Jamaludin Appointed Independent Non-Executive Chairman of AirAsia Aviation Group

(14 Feb 2022)  AirAsia Aviation Limited (AAAL), the holding company for the airline group, held a virtual press conference on Friday to unveil key strategic and organisational changes as Capital A’s rapid transformation continues.

Following the recent group holding name change from AirAsia Group to Capital A, AAAL is to be renamed AirAsia Aviation Group Limited (AAAGL).

The company says the name change reflects the aviation group’s recovery and growth strategy by consolidating all of its airline operations under one entity to focus expansion of the business within the larger ecosystem.

Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim

The new airline group entity has also put together an independent board of directors and appointed Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim (pictured) as independent non-executive Chairman.

Under the new structure, AAAGL will oversee all airlines in Capital A, as well as related international support functions including AirAsia Consulting, shared corporate services division AirAsia SEA, the Santan food group and the ground handling services joint venture business called GTR.

The formation of a new board of directors for AAAGL, comprising all independent directors, (except the Group CEO), will be separate to the board of Capital A.

The plan is to assemble a balanced mix of industry leading professionals with diverse backgrounds and complementary skills. It is envisaged that the board will comprise some of the best in their respective areas including well known figures from the various countries it operates in to ensure diversity in nationalities, skills and gender.

Bo Lingam, Group CEO of AirAsia Aviation Group Limited said, “This announcement is much more than just a name change. It signals a strong new beginning for our airline group and supports the rapid expansion of Capital A's portfolio companies, helping to facilitate strong projected growth in both airline and non airline companies.

“AAAGL now holds our existing airline investments and paves the way for new airline ventures to be formed in due course. We have recently established the AirAsia Consulting company tasked at reviewing new airline partnerships, franchise opportunities and providing airline consulting services to not only AirAsia airlines but also to other airlines. Santan is our fast growing inflight and on ground food and beverage restaurant chain, now with ten outlets across Malaysia. AirAsia SEA is the shared services division providing corporate services supporting the group and also has plans to support other airlines and related businesses in the future. GTR completes the airline group ecosystem, providing industry leading ground services capabilities for not only AirAsia, but also to third party airlines.

“The rationale for these structural changes is to provide a separate, robust and lean platform for the airline operations supporting Capital A’s continued focus to become more than just an airline. AAAGL will become one of the key pillars under Capital A, alongside the new digital businesses and aircraft engineering company, Asia Digital Engineering (ADE) - which is also preparing to announce a new board of directors in the near future, as a separate entity to AAAGL.

“The airline will always underpin the AirAsia brand and we have strong growth plans for the future as the world continues to open up and the pandemic gradually moves to an endemic phase.

“Importantly, the future growth of the aviation group will be expected to come from new ventures, partnerships, geographies and adjacent businesses, expanding the aviation group’s broader ecosystem. Underpinned by our relentless pursuit of operational excellence as the world’s leading low cost carrier, our continued focus on cost and creating an optimal organisational structure will be critical to our strategy.

“I am thrilled with the strength of the board of directors for AAAGL which include Chairman Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim to oversee our future plans. Each of them will bring a wealth of experience and diversity to ensure robust corporate governance and strong strategic oversight.

“Furthermore, this announcement supports our fundraising strategy for the airline group as a separate entity, given certain investors may prefer to invest only in the airline business.”

Tan Sri Jamaludin

Tan Sri Jamaludin has 16 years experience in the IT sector and 23 years of experience in telecommunications. Outside ICT, he has served on numerous boards and in other non-executive roles in public and private sectors.

He is now the Chairman of Prasarana Malaysia Berhad, the Chairman of QSR Brands (M) Holdings Bhd, and a Board Member of Sunway Group Berhad. He is also the Pro Chancellor of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).

At the national level, Jamaludin is a member of the country’s Economic Action Council and the National Digital Economy/4IR Council. Both are chaired by the Prime Minister.

Prior to his retirement in December 2020, Jamaludin was the Group CEO of Axiata Group Berhad for almost 13 years, and Group CEO of Maxis Communications Berhad for 10 years.

Before joining the telecommunications industry, he was in the IT industry at Digital Equipment (DEC) and IBM. He started his career in the technical IT areas at IBM and as a lecturer in quantitative methods at California State University, USA.