KUALA LUMPUR: A proposed deal with top carrier Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia has collapsed, but AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes said he is not disappointed, instead pleased, that the deal fell through. He told The Edge business daily newspaper that the end of the discussions will give him more time to focus on where the budget carrier is going. In his most extensive comments to date on the failed deal, Fernandes said in interviews published Friday that “massive” Malaysia Airlines union resistance was to blame and implied that the carrier had deep problems to resolve. “I was off blood pressure pills as soon as the swap was off. I'm serious,” he told The Edge. “Sometimes you need a bit of a kick up your backside. When we have built fantastic operations at AirAsia, we didn't appreciate it until we (saw) something else,” he said. His comments came two days after AirAsia announced it is setting up a strategic planning centre in Indonesia, away from its Malaysian headquarters, with Fernandes expected to lead expansion of regional operations from there. AirAsia had agreed in August last year to buy 20.5 percent of Malaysia Airlines under a strategic tie-up aimed at turning around the national carrier. But the share swap deal was pulled early last month after pressure from Malaysia Airlines' powerful employees union, who feared job cuts and other cost-reducing moves. Fernandes said Malaysia Airlines' problems could have been fixed under the tie-up. “Yes, there will be short-term pain but you have to make the business successful as you cannot be on life-support,” he told The Star newspaper. “(But) you reach a point of why waste time talking? … I'm glad it's over,” he added.
