He also founded the Caterham Formula One team and in 2010 won a bet with Virgin Group boss Richard Branson (whose music arm he once worked for) over whose team would do better. It led to the British tycoon serving as a stewardess, complete with the signature red uniform and lipstick, on an AirAsia flight last year.
One of Fernandes’ biggest achievements has been to lead the charge for open skies in South-east Asia. Partly because of his lobbying, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore granted landing rights to AirAsia and other discount carriers that have mushroomed in the region.