Generous Tony Fernandes Gives Asean Olympic Gold Medalists Free Flights For Life
He even made sure to reward silver and bronze medalists, too.
By Sadho Ram — 24 Aug 2016, 08:06 PM
The Rio Olympics is over, but freebies for Olympians who won medals and made their respective countries are only starting
The latest comes from Tony Fernandes of AirAsia, who while honouring the ASEAN athletes at Rio Olympics who won Gold medals through their determination and hard-work, has announced to give all 5 ASEAN gold medallists free flights for life.
And not just gold medalists, AirAsia will also give athletes from the 10-nation grouping who won silver and bronze medals free flights for 5 and 2 years respectively.
Which means Malaysian athletes who while failed to win a gold but nonetheless made the country proud by bringing a total of 5 silver and bronze medals will also be included.
On his Facebook page, while announcing the AirAsia's free flights for life gesture, Tony wrote, "What an Olympics this was for Asean."
"I was blown away by the performances from Asean athletes, such as Thailand's Sukanya Srisurat and Sopita Tanasan, Indonesia's Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir, as well as Joseph Schooling and Hoang Xuan Vinh, who won Singapore and Vietnam's first ever Olympic gold medal," Tony said.
"Our Malaysian athletes were no less amazing. Some weren't even favourites going in but they defied all odds and gave us our best ever medal haul at the Olympics. They are nothing short of heroes," he added.
Tony's gesture is definitely worthy of a praise, especially when it recognises an all round effort by the athletes irrespective of the medal they won individually. It also gives a boost to AirAsia's image.
Eligible athletes will be able to fly to any of the more than 120 destinations within AirAsia and AirAsia X's extensive network in Asia, Australia, the Middle East and Africa.
"Together, these Asean athletes proved we can achieve anything as long as we believe in ourselves and work tirelessly towards our dream," Tony said, adding that, "At AirAsia too, we want to be the best by emulating the best, and these athletes have taught us we should never stop trying to be better. This is the least we could do for them."
