AirAsia X, the long-haul low cost carrier of the AirAsia Group, was awarded the Airbus Top Operational Excellence Award 2010-2011, for being the world’s best Airbus A330-300 operator (small fleet category) at the Airbus A330/340 Technical Symposium event held in Bangkok June 13.
Airbus awards the best performing airlines every two years based on Airbus’s global database of technical dispatch reliability performance across all operators of the aircraft type. AirAsia X head of maintenance, Soo Hoo How Loon, was in Bangkok to receive the award which is a testimony to AirAsia X’s engineering and operational excellence where AirAsia X has achieved a record of 99.53% for 2011 for its operating, maintenance and safety systems.
(L to R) Philippe Gourdon, Vice President of A330/A340 Program Customer Services, Philippe Mhun, Airbus Vice President Programs, Soo Hoo How Loon, AirAsia X Head of Maintenance, Laurie Alder, Airbus HO Customer Support Asia Pacific.
Azran Osman-Rani, CEO of AirAsia X said, “We are proud and humbled by the recognition from receiving this prestigious award from Airbus. This is not only a win for us, but it is also a validation of our commitment to operational excellence. This demonstrates that a high-performing airline can achieve the world’s lowest unit cost performance while still delivering the world’s best operational reliability and customer service – where true competitive advantage comes from its amazing team of AirAsia All Stars and the unique AirAsia culture of continuously striving to be the best.”
AirAsia X attributes this success to three main factors which are AirAsia X’s young fleet of new aircraft, the organization’s culture and the commitment from the board of directors and management team.
AirAsia X operates a young fleet with new aircraft and a comprehensive maintenance reliability program that includes Rolls Royce and Honeywell for long-term Total Care programs and other advanced predictive maintenance programs and tools.
The open and collaborative organization culture at AirAsia X is also different from traditional hierarchical and unionized cultures. This allows engineers and technicians to share knowledge and information, collaborate effectively towards common goals, and work efficiently and cross-functionally with pilots, flight attendants, and ground operations teams.
This award is also made possible by AirAsia X’s board of directors and management which have given their top level commitment when engineering reliability performance is reviewed and deliberated at every board meeting, and every top management meeting, with resources committed towards achieving the best performance.
AirAsia X operates 9 Airbus A330-300 in Asia Pacific to 12 destinations in Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Korea, China and Iran.
