For 7 years now, we have conquered the skies. For 50 years, they’ve conquered the gridiron. Today, both stand together in unison, the start of an awesome winning combination.
AirAsia, the world’s best low-cost carrier and Oakland Raiders, three-time National Football League (NFL) Super Bowl champions, officially announced a winning partnership at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal today.
AirAsia is proud to be a sponsor of an iconic NFL football team like the Oakland Raiders and this partnership is expected to be the catalyst in promoting the AirAsia brand in the United States.
AirAsia will also host a 1,000 FREE SEATS online contest in which students will be chosen at random for the opportunity to win free tickets to a Raiders home game. Program and contest details will be made available on www.airasia.com and Raiders.com.
AirAsia Group CEO Dato’ Sri Tony Fernandes said, “This is a very meaningful moment for all of us at AirAsia. We are excited to associate ourselves with a great, iconic team like the Oakland Raiders as they reflect our own endeavor for excellence. This is actually the latest step we are taking, to boost our brand globally. Despite not operating in the US yet, AirAsia has already captured the attention of the US public and won Aviation Week’s prestigious Laureate Award.”
Fernandes made history by being the first Asian to be recognized with the Laureate Award for the Commercial Air Transport category in March 2009, alongside other Laureate winners Alan S. Boyd, the first U.S. Transportation secretary, and the U.S. Coast Guard HH-60 Jayhawk, HH-65 Dolphin, HC-130 Hercules rescue teams.
“Being in the NFL, a team needs to be performance-driven, and most importantly possess the passion to win. We relate very well to these traits, as they are the same qualities that drive us to excel, as recognized by 16 million air travelers who voted us as the World’s Best Low Cost Airline in the annual World Airline Survey by Skytrax,” concludes Fernandes.
The event also saw the unveiling of the Oakland Raiders aircraft livery, the airline’s latest campaign to establish its position as an innovative and trendsetting brand. At the same time, to inform the American public that through our extensive network, they could enjoy excellent connectivity via our hubs in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, Kota Kinabalu), Indonesia (Jakarta, Bali) and Thailand (Bangkok) to many fascinating and exotic destinations across Asia and Europe.
The livery is AirAsia X’s latest Airbus A340 aircraft, dubbed ‘Xcellence’, matching the Oakland Raiders’ motto ‘Commitment to Excellence’.
AirAsia X CEO, Azran Osman-Rani commented, “We’re extremely proud to dedicate one of our A340s to the iconic Oakland Raiders brand. This trans-continental aircraft that plies our London-KL route symbolizes our ambition to open up the North American market as our future growth area. We’ll be flying this aircraft into Oakland at the start of this coming NFL season, and I’m sure that the groundbreaking livery design will capture the imagination of millions of NFL fans and introduce them to our proud AirAsia brand and Malaysian heritage.
“By promoting Malaysia in North America, we hope to help bring more travelers from that part of the world to this country, which will help boost tourism and the local economy,” Azran said.
AirAsia X is a low–cost long-haul affiliate of low-cost short-haul AirAsia, and proudly the first Asian sponsor of an NFL team, and the owner of the world’s first NFL aircraft livery.
Present at the event was Oakland Raiders’ owner Mark Davis and Raiders legends Ted Hendricks, Rod Martin and Cliff Branch. The team’s famed Raiderettes (official cheerleaders of the Oakland Raiders) were also present, adding glitz and glamour to the event.
“We are absolutely thrilled with our new relationship with AirAsia,” said Oakland Raiders Chief Executive Amy Trask. “It is a unique and audacious relationship between two truly global organizations. As always, we eagerly seek creative opportunities to serve and interact with our fans throughout the world and we are delighted to work with AirAsia on this creative endeavor.”
The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team formed in 1960, currently based in the city of Oakland, California. Their home ground is the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL).
In total, the Raiders have won 3 Super Bowl titles, the last of which was Super Bowl XVIII in 1984.
In its efforts to boost global branding, AirAsia has also partnered with other popular sports entities. It is currently a partner of the AT&T Williams Formula One team and was previously the official low cost airline for the Manchester United Football Club.
AirAsia is also committed in supporting local teams and athletes such as the Olympic Council of Malaysia, UPB MyTeam FC, Neesha Thiru (Malaysia’s number 1 junior female tennis player), Axle Motorsport (competing in the Asian Touring Car Championship), Kimberly Yap (Malaysian tri-athlete) and the upcoming Borneo International Marathon 2009.
We have also supported the Malaysian Hockey Confederation by being the title sponsors of the previous 8th AirAsia Men’s Asia Cup held in Kuantan and the Women’s World Table Tennis Championships 2008 in Kuala Lumpur.
AirAsia’s latest effort is extending support to a Malaysian media sepak takraw team for an upcoming friendly match against the Thai media selection, in conjunction of the 24th World Championship Sepak Takraw King’s Cup in Thailand.