AirAsia should be compensated over global tech glitch: Tony Fernandes

SUBANG JAYA - AirAsia will seek compensation from the relevant parties following the

recent global tech outage

that crippled airlines, banks, hospitals and emergency response systems, said Mr Tony Fernandes.

The Capital A chief executive officer said those responsible for the outage should have been proactive in coming clean and offering compensation.

“I 100 per cent will ask (for compensation), wouldn’t you? Of course, you would,” Mr Fernandes said at Subang Airport on July 23.

“If (we) cancel (our) flights, we have to give a refund. If we do something wrong, we give you a refund.”

He was responding to a question on whether AirAsia was going to demand compensation following the July 19 outage that disrupted the low-cost airline’s booking and check-in operations and forced the cancellation of several flights.

He said the tech outage resulted in significant business losses.

Mr Fernandes said he would not have to ask about compensation if tech companies were more answerable.

“They should come to me,” he said. “They should offer us compensation. Right now, we have to wait and see. The principle is, if we do something wrong, we have to compensate.”

Microsoft reportedly said that more than 8.5 million devices were affected by the outage caused by its cyber-security partner CrowdStrike, which led to airlines, banks, call centres, transportation and healthcare systems struggling worldwide.

CrowdStrike reportedly said the outage was caused by a defect in an update to its Falcon Sensor cyber-security defence software for Windows hosts.

Earlier, at a simple ceremony, Mr Fernandes celebrated AirAsia’s return to its humble beginnings at Subang Airport after two decades.

The airline’s operations and expansion at the airport will commence with two domestic destinations – Kuching and Kota Kinabalu – with 14 flights each week, starting on Aug 30.

“It is wonderful to be back, it is where we started. It’s only two planes but we will keep growing.

“We hope to fly to international destinations soon,” Mr Fernandes said, thanking the Transport Ministry for allowing AirAsia to return to the airport.

Mr Fernandes also unveiled the new AirAsia+ experience, exclusive to Subang Airport and catered to business travellers.

“As a city airport, Subang will cater to business passengers who desire additional services beyond the standard AirAsia offering at KLIA2 (Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2).

“We will give a different product for Subang. We will announce the details in due course,” he said, adding that the AirAsia+ experience will start with the airline’s first flight on Aug 30.

In his speech, Mr Fernandes called for the creation of a Malaysian airlines association, as there are many issues where airlines are not represented, leading to “some crazy decisions” being made.

Meanwhile, in Seremban, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said passengers upset with flight delays or cancellations caused by the Microsoft Windows outage can lodge their complaints with the Malaysian Aviation Commission.

He said hundreds of local flights were delayed or cancelled, with AirAsia the hardest hit as it uses a Microsoft system to check in passengers.

Mr Loke said: “Hundreds of flights were affected over two or three days as the system took about 24 hours to get running again.

“The crash was totally unexpected and this had affected tens of thousands of travellers during that period.” THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK