【雙語閱讀】AirAsia: Spreading its wings 亞航：展翅高飛.

　　簡介：作為亞洲最成功的航空公司之一，亞航繼續(xù)擴(kuò)張。如今，亞航幾乎飛遍全世界。亞航在印度尼西亞首都的新辦公室位于45樓，窗外風(fēng)景壯麗，煙消云散時(shí)，景色更美。如果亞航的執(zhí)行官們偶爾覺得自己主宰著大地，他們這種居高臨下的瞬間也許是可以原諒的：畢竟，他們導(dǎo)演了亞洲偉大航空公司走向成功的故事。

　　[2012.09.29]

　　AirAsia

　　Spreading its wings

　　One of Asia’s most successful carriers keeps on expanding

　　Sep 29th 2012 | JAKARTA | from the print edition

　　Now flying to almost everywhere

　　THE view from the 45th floor at AirAsia’s new office in the Indonesian capital is spectacular, and even better when the smog lifts. If the airline’s executives occasionally feel masters of all they survey, perhaps they could be forgiven the moments of hubris: they are, after all, at the helm of Asia’s great aviation success story.

　　While older Asian airlines such as Malaysian and Qantas struggle, AirAsia, just ten years old, continues to conquer the skies. Last year it carried 30m passengers, yet their numbers are still growing at around 10% a year, and profits are healthy. It claims to be the fourth-largest airline in Asia despite lacking the huge, captive domestic market of China’s big carriers.

　　The opening of the office in Jakarta marks the start of the next phase of its expansion plans. The airline is still registered in Malaysia, home to its boss, Tony Fernandes, but the Jakarta office is the new base from which it hopes to dominate South-East Asia, with its 600m people, and beyond. It is ideal terrain for airlines: a region dominated by sprawling archipelagoes, where planes therore face little competition from roads and high-speed trains, as they do in Europe or America.

　　To this end AirAsia has bought into the Indonesian domestic market by acquiring a local carrier, Batavia Air (the deal still requires regulatory approval). With a booming economy, a growing middle class and 240m people spread over 17,000 or so islands, Indonesia’s potential is obvious. Batavia’s 32 planes, added to the 18 flown by Indonesia AirAsia, make for a sizeable fleet. And beyond South-East Asia the airline has just broken into the Japanese market, teaming up with All Nippon Airways to launch a new domestic carrier. The service started on August 1st. Next stop, probably, is South Korea. To fly all these people around, AirAsia is amassing an enormous fleet of new planes. It is now the biggest customer for Airbus’s single-aisle A320, with 375 on order, and is expected to order a further 100 planes from Airbus soon.

　　AirAsia’s fares are lower than those of the region’s older “l(fā)egacy” carriers. But they are not rock-bottom cheap like those of the European no-frills airlines that originally inspired Mr Fernandes. Fortunately for him, Asian customers are prepared to pay a bit more for the privilege of not being treated like European cattle. Cabin crews are well-trained and smartly turned out in red uniforms. Check-in is easy and flights are usually punctual—and don’t all leave at three in the morning.

　　One day AirAsia may face a serious challenge from one of the region’s other young and ambitious carriers, such as Tiger Airways or Jetstar Asia (both operating out of Singapore), the Philippines’ Cebu Pacific or Indonesia’s Lion Air. But for now they are trailing in its wake. The main impediment to AirAsia’s continued expansion, as with other low-cost carriers, is the region’s highly regulated and expensive operating environment. Politicians are fond of building extravagant showpiece airports that end up adding about 15% to the cost of a ticket. What is needed are more cheap-and-cheerful terminals and fewer “Taj Mahals”. As Mr Fernandes notes, “Thailand has the highest airport tax, and the slowest passenger growth.”

　　At least Thailand, together with Malaysia and Singapore, has deregulated its market. Other countries have not, limiting the number of flights between and within them. Even in liberal Singapore, Mr Fernandes has been rebuffed in his attempts to win a licence to set up an operating base.

　　AirAsia has had other disappointments. The long-haul unit of the business had to axe its flights to London and Paris earlier this year because they were losing too much money. High fuel prices were mainly to blame but the EU’s new carbon tax was the “nail in the coffin”, says Mr Fernandes. Other opportunities beckon, however, such as India. Its vast population, enormous size and new middle class dwarf even Indonesia’s. On September 14th, as part of a big package of economic rorms, the Indian government said it would let foreign airlines invest in Indian carriers for the first time, albeit limiting their stakes to 49%. AirAsia is “very interested” in India, says Mr Fernandes, but will wait until its fiercely competing local airlines have killed each other off.

　　【中文對(duì)照翻譯】

　　亞洲航空公司

　　展翅高飛

　　作為亞洲最成功的航空公司之一，亞航繼續(xù)擴(kuò)張

　　如今，亞航幾乎飛遍全世界

　　亞航在印度尼西亞首都的新辦公室位于45樓，窗外風(fēng)景壯麗，煙消云散時(shí)，景色更美。如果亞航的執(zhí)行官們偶爾覺得自己主宰著大地，他們這種居高臨下的瞬間也許是可以原諒的：畢竟，他們導(dǎo)演了亞洲偉大航空公司走向成功的故事。

　　當(dāng)成立較早的航空公司，如馬來西亞航空和澳洲航空，竭力維持生計(jì)之時(shí)，剛剛成立10年的亞航，繼續(xù)征服著藍(lán)天，業(yè)績蒸蒸日上。去年，亞航總載客量達(dá)3千萬人次，而這一數(shù)據(jù)年增速保持在10%左右，利潤也依然豐厚。雖然缺少中國大型航空公司所有的那種巨大而壟斷的國內(nèi)市場，亞航自稱是亞洲第四大航空公司。

　　雅加達(dá)辦公室開始營業(yè)，標(biāo)志著亞航登上了擴(kuò)張計(jì)劃的新臺(tái)階。亞航的注冊(cè)地，仍是其老總Tony Fernandes的祖國馬來西亞。然而，雅加達(dá)辦公室這個(gè)嶄新的基地，承載著亞航獨(dú)占人口達(dá)6億的東南亞以及更廣地區(qū)的希望。對(duì)于航空公司來說，雅加達(dá)的地勢堪稱完美：分散的島嶼占據(jù)主要地域，因此，不像在歐美，這里幾乎沒有陸運(yùn)和高鐵相競爭。

　　為實(shí)現(xiàn)目標(biāo)，亞航收購了一家印度尼亞本地航空公司——巴達(dá)維亞航空(這項(xiàng)交易仍需注冊(cè)審批)，從而進(jìn)入了印度尼西亞國內(nèi)市場。印度尼西亞經(jīng)濟(jì)欣欣向榮，中產(chǎn)階級(jí)人數(shù)不斷增加，人口數(shù)量達(dá)2億4千萬，廣布于約1萬7千座島嶼之上，印度尼西亞的潛力顯而易見。巴達(dá)維亞航空公司擁有32架客機(jī)，加上亞航印尼的18架，陣容可觀。除了東南亞地區(qū)之外，亞航還和全日航空合作打造了一個(gè)嶄新的日本國內(nèi)航空公司，剛剛打入日本市場。日本公司于8月1日開始營業(yè)。下一站也許就是韓國了。亞航購入大量新機(jī)，湊成一支龐大的機(jī)隊(duì)，載著人們飛往各地。亞航訂購了375架單通道A320，目前，是空客該機(jī)型的最大客戶，并且，不久后還會(huì)從空客再訂購100架飛機(jī)。

　　亞航比印度尼西亞歷史較長的“古董級(jí)”航空公司收費(fèi)更低。但是，也不會(huì)低至不提供額外服務(wù)的歐洲航空公司(這點(diǎn)當(dāng)初給Fernandes先生帶來低價(jià)靈感)。幸運(yùn)的是，亞洲客戶寧愿多給點(diǎn)錢，享受優(yōu)待，也不愿意受到如歐洲航空公司提供的非人待遇。空服人員都接受過良好的培訓(xùn)，瀟灑地穿著紅色制服。登記手續(xù)辦理輕松，航班幾乎都是準(zhǔn)點(diǎn)——而且，所有的航班不會(huì)都在凌晨3點(diǎn)起飛。

　　總有一天，其他雄心勃勃的年輕航空公司，如在新加坡之外翱翔的欣豐虎航和捷星亞航，以及菲律賓宿霧太平洋航空和印度尼西亞雄獅航空，都會(huì)給亞航帶來巨大挑戰(zhàn)。但是現(xiàn)在，這些年輕公司還只是追著亞航的尾巴。和其他低成本航空公司一樣，亞航要繼續(xù)擴(kuò)張，地區(qū)高度管制以及運(yùn)營費(fèi)昂貴成為了主要阻礙。政客都喜歡修建外表金碧輝煌的機(jī)場，導(dǎo)致機(jī)票價(jià)格上漲15%。人們需要更多物美價(jià)廉的航站樓，而不是華而不實(shí)的泰姬陵。Fernandes先生指出，“泰國機(jī)場稅最高，而旅客量增速最低?！?/p>

　　至少泰國，馬來西亞和新加坡解除了市場管制。其他國家依然沒有解除管制，限制了國際國內(nèi)航班數(shù)量。Fernandes先生想在新加坡獲取許可證，建立運(yùn)行點(diǎn)，甚至連這個(gè)自由國度也一口回絕了。

　　亞航在其他方面也不盡如人意。今年年初，由于嚴(yán)重虧損，公司不得不削減飛往倫敦和巴利的長途飛機(jī)。據(jù)Fernandes先生稱，主要原因是燃料價(jià)格高昂，而歐盟新增加的碳排放稅才是“致命一擊”。然而，還有其他機(jī)遇在向亞航招手，比如印度。印度人口密集，新興中產(chǎn)階級(jí)規(guī)模宏大，其潛力甚至超過印度尼西亞。9月14日，印度政府實(shí)施大規(guī)模經(jīng)濟(jì)改革，政府稱，在本次經(jīng)濟(jì)改革中，首次允許外國航空公司投資印度航空公司，雖然股權(quán)僅限49%。亞航對(duì)印度“興趣濃厚”，F(xiàn)ernandes先生說，但是，要等到印度本地航空公司在猛烈競爭中消滅了對(duì)方，才坐收漁翁之利。

　　簡介：作為亞洲最成功的航空公司之一，亞航繼續(xù)擴(kuò)張。如今，亞航幾乎飛遍全世界。亞航在印度尼西亞首都的新辦公室位于45樓，窗外風(fēng)景壯麗，煙消云散時(shí)，景色更美。如果亞航的執(zhí)行官們偶爾覺得自己主宰著大地，他們這種居高臨下的瞬間也許是可以原諒的：畢竟，他們導(dǎo)演了亞洲偉大航空公司走向成功的故事。

　　[2012.09.29]

　　AirAsia

　　Spreading its wings

　　One of Asia’s most successful carriers keeps on expanding

　　Sep 29th 2012 | JAKARTA | from the print edition

　　Now flying to almost everywhere

　　THE view from the 45th floor at AirAsia’s new office in the Indonesian capital is spectacular, and even better when the smog lifts. If the airline’s executives occasionally feel masters of all they survey, perhaps they could be forgiven the moments of hubris: they are, after all, at the helm of Asia’s great aviation success story.

　　While older Asian airlines such as Malaysian and Qantas struggle, AirAsia, just ten years old, continues to conquer the skies. Last year it carried 30m passengers, yet their numbers are still growing at around 10% a year, and profits are healthy. It claims to be the fourth-largest airline in Asia despite lacking the huge, captive domestic market of China’s big carriers.

　　The opening of the office in Jakarta marks the start of the next phase of its expansion plans. The airline is still registered in Malaysia, home to its boss, Tony Fernandes, but the Jakarta office is the new base from which it hopes to dominate South-East Asia, with its 600m people, and beyond. It is ideal terrain for airlines: a region dominated by sprawling archipelagoes, where planes therore face little competition from roads and high-speed trains, as they do in Europe or America.

　　To this end AirAsia has bought into the Indonesian domestic market by acquiring a local carrier, Batavia Air (the deal still requires regulatory approval). With a booming economy, a growing middle class and 240m people spread over 17,000 or so islands, Indonesia’s potential is obvious. Batavia’s 32 planes, added to the 18 flown by Indonesia AirAsia, make for a sizeable fleet. And beyond South-East Asia the airline has just broken into the Japanese market, teaming up with All Nippon Airways to launch a new domestic carrier. The service started on August 1st. Next stop, probably, is South Korea. To fly all these people around, AirAsia is amassing an enormous fleet of new planes. It is now the biggest customer for Airbus’s single-aisle A320, with 375 on order, and is expected to order a further 100 planes from Airbus soon.

　　AirAsia’s fares are lower than those of the region’s older “l(fā)egacy” carriers. But they are not rock-bottom cheap like those of the European no-frills airlines that originally inspired Mr Fernandes. Fortunately for him, Asian customers are prepared to pay a bit more for the privilege of not being treated like European cattle. Cabin crews are well-trained and smartly turned out in red uniforms. Check-in is easy and flights are usually punctual—and don’t all leave at three in the morning.

　　One day AirAsia may face a serious challenge from one of the region’s other young and ambitious carriers, such as Tiger Airways or Jetstar Asia (both operating out of Singapore), the Philippines’ Cebu Pacific or Indonesia’s Lion Air. But for now they are trailing in its wake. The main impediment to AirAsia’s continued expansion, as with other low-cost carriers, is the region’s highly regulated and expensive operating environment. Politicians are fond of building extravagant showpiece airports that end up adding about 15% to the cost of a ticket. What is needed are more cheap-and-cheerful terminals and fewer “Taj Mahals”. As Mr Fernandes notes, “Thailand has the highest airport tax, and the slowest passenger growth.”

　　At least Thailand, together with Malaysia and Singapore, has deregulated its market. Other countries have not, limiting the number of flights between and within them. Even in liberal Singapore, Mr Fernandes has been rebuffed in his attempts to win a licence to set up an operating base.

　　AirAsia has had other disappointments. The long-haul unit of the business had to axe its flights to London and Paris earlier this year because they were losing too much money. High fuel prices were mainly to blame but the EU’s new carbon tax was the “nail in the coffin”, says Mr Fernandes. Other opportunities beckon, however, such as India. Its vast population, enormous size and new middle class dwarf even Indonesia’s. On September 14th, as part of a big package of economic rorms, the Indian government said it would let foreign airlines invest in Indian carriers for the first time, albeit limiting their stakes to 49%. AirAsia is “very interested” in India, says Mr Fernandes, but will wait until its fiercely competing local airlines have killed each other off.

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