Innovating and Breaking the Mould
Azran Osman
CEO of AirAsia X

So who is Azran Osman?

In July 2007, Azran was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia X, the world’s first truly low-cost long-haul airline. He led the start-up team that developed the business plan, raised capital, secured relevant licenses and approvals, acquired aircraft and launched AirAsia X’s first inaugural flight to the Gold Coast, Australia in November 2007.

Despite a tumultuous 2008 and 2009 in global aviation, AirAsia X has expanded from one aircraft to eleven, tripling revenue and passenger volume to RM750 million and over 1 million passengers in 2009, and breaking the RM1 billion revenue mark in 2010, in its third full year of operations. AirAsia X now flies to fifteen destinations in Australia/New Zeland, Greater China, India, Iran, Japan, Korea and Europe – breaking many long-haul airline conventions and pioneering various innovative services. Even with its nascent aircraft fleet, AirAsia X operates with the world’s lowest long-haul unit cost and the world’s highest aircraft utilization. Its London route is the longest low-cost flight in service today. Despite a lot of initial skepticism from industry observers, AirAsia X achieved positive operating cashflow in less than six months, ratcheted up over RM400 million in sales in its first year, and began operating with positive net profitability by the end of 2008.

Based on its pioneering business model, AirAsia X has received tremendous international publicity, and has been recognized as the 2008 Best New Airline and jointly awarded the 2009 Airline of the Year award with AirAsia Berhad. It is also featured as the only Asian case study in ‘BOLD: How to be Brave in Business and Win’ by Shaun Smith.

Prior to his appointment, Azran was formerly the Senior Director of Business Development for Astro All Asia Networks plc, where he led the start-up and operational launch of Astro’s international investments and joint ventures across Southeast Asia, India and Greater China – having oversight management responsibility for a portfolio of over US$300 million invested in these businesses.

Azran was formerly an Associate Partner of McKinsey & Company, an international management consultancy, where he co-led its Southeast Asia Corporate Finance & Strategy practice.

He holds a Masters degree in Management Science and a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering, both from Stanford University. He is a Fellow of CPA Australia

Azran was recently nominated to the Board of Directors of Tourism Malaysia by the Minister of Tourism. A prolific international speaker, he has been invited as one of the Young Leaders at the 2010 World Islamic Economic Forum and represented Malaysia as one of Asia Society’s 2009 Asia 21 Delegates. He is also a member of the Young Presidents Organisation (YPO).

He is 40 years young, a competitive Ultimate Frisbee player, a keen surfer and snowboarder, and has completed ten full marathons in the last 2 years.