AirAsia names Riad Asmat CEO

SEPANG: AirAsia Bhd has appointed Riad Asmat as chief executive officer (CEO) succeeding Aireen Omar, who has been promoted to deputy group CEO – Digital, Transformation, Corporate Services.

The new appointments were announced by group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes. He also announced the appointment of Captain Adrian Jenkins as chief operating officer AirAsia.

Riad, 46, is the son of Tan Sri Asmat Kamaludin, who is currently a director of AirAsia X Bhd. His appointment is effective Jan 10, 2018. 

He is currently Naza Corp Holdings Sdn Bhd’s director of corporate planning, strategy and business development a position he held since September 2014.

Fernandes said Aireen will oversee the group wide digital strategy and will continue to look after government relations.

In a statement, AirAsia said Aireen will be spearheading the non-airline companies such as BIGPay, BIG Loyalty, ROKKIShoppe.com, ROKKI Portal, Travel360.com, Vidi, RedTix, AirAsiaGo, BD4H, RedCargo, Red Box and Santan. 

Additionally, Aireen will oversee large, strategic group-wide initiatives and help transform AirAsia into a global, cloud-driven product and platform company. 

Aireen will be responsible for AirAsia’s digital strategy, promoting innovation throughout the group and encouraging collaboration across AirAsia’s businesses and markets.

During the press conference, Fernandes also brushed off retirement rumours. “I am not resigning. I am also not retiring,” he stressed. 

Earlier, he tweeted that: “Laughable that there is a rumour I’m retiring. My announcement is an exciting one that charts our future of AIRASIA.”

Fernandes followed up that tweet with another one: “So not going anywhere. Exciting times ahead.”