Any publicity is good publicity, something perhaps both Richard Branson of Virgin and Tony Fernandes of AirAsia subscribe to. We all know about the battle of the newcomers between the two airline cum Formula 1 team chiefs, where the loser will don a stewardess outfit of the rival airline and serve passengers onboard. Lotus Racing has finished ahead of Virgin in the 2010 season, which means the Englishman will have the honour.
In the midst of celebrations last night in Abu Dhabi, Lotus Racing chief Fernandes passed Branson an AirAsia uniform and pinned a stewardess’ badge on the Virgin Racing boss. The two men then agreed how the bet would be settled.
“There has been a fantastic spirit of competition between us and Virgin Racing all season and one of the first people to come and congratulate us on the pitwall was Richard. We have had this great bet running all season and now it’s time for Richard to start preparing himself for some hard work and the likely pain of a pair of high heels!
“We agreed last night that we will run an online charity auction for the seats on our Kuala Lumpur – London route to raise money for a charity of Richard’s choice and give fans of both teams the chance to be on the flight. The date of the flight will be announced very soon and the aim is to raise as much money as we can for a good cause so the discomfort Richard will go through is worth as much as it possibly can be!” revealed Fernandes.
More details on the date of the flight and how to enter the charity auction to bid for a seat will be announced soon. Stay tuned!
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this two guy are really smart in busineess… they really enjoy their job ….
definitely will b d event of d year!!WOHA
yes! LOTUS TEAM owner is way smarter than the LOTUS owner.
i understand your meaning….Proton unable to achieve this kind of honour…not even they cars…but Air Asia can….it only the matter of management issue…proton boss don’t hv great business brain…that all…
hahaha.. nice one
I LIKE THISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Oww… That hurts my eyes… But still funny and charity is good!
This flight going to be expansive:P
hahaha ! great job !
good sportsmanship, great publicity for them both, and best of all, a charity will benefit from this.
Very smart marketing from these two guys for both their airlines and Formula 1… On top of that, they are doing it for charity! Amazing guys…
Charity is good. Can also claim tax release later. :P
PS: Better channeled that money to charity than to “big somebody” who will mismanage it later. Kudos to Tony and Richard!
kau ni memang sentiasa berfikiran negatif je…
biasa la syoh tuh….
just like what SIA did for the inaugural A380 flight to Sydney. let people bid it on eBay and goes to charity. nice community move.
LoL. Awesome!
I know u like it!
anyway will Richard Branson do eurodance while wearing the skirt in AirAsia flight also??
…
how much the price of ticket rr??
Of course. That is the sole objective of having such a bet. A publicity stint that will benefit both Tony and Richard in all of their endeavours.
Those who managed to get on the flight will be the only ones in the world who can brag that they have been served by a true British knight. Lucky
Yup, the ticket auction will worth millions..
doesn’t really matter, virgin own airasia shares …
good chaps , good sportsmanship
This is going to be great^^
Good one. I like it……
hehhe… guess the passenger could spank richard’s arse! hahha..
I prefer TF’s arse!
What the?!…..
Excellent Marketing ! Good for Airasia and Malaysia ! Well done !
Its certainly good marketing. The media attention will be great for Malaysia and I am glad that they have turned it into a charity otherwise I am not that keen on the team “flying the Malaysian flag” and yet associating betting with it. Not exactly a positive attribute we want to be proud of, we have enough publicity with illegal bookies as it is :)
Everyone likes this.
5 minutes ago via iPhone.
Great Sprit …. hope to see in more in our country, specially in the Parliment :o)
those 2 are close friends…
in parliament, everybody could turn from friends into enemies in split second.
Its because they’re as successful as they are that they’re NOT in parliement
hahah! very sporting! good show! :)
Brilliant advertisement to the whole world…
I hope people on the flight take videos and post it in YouTube.
Regardless this is a publicity stint or not, at least it generates fun in the F1 world. Moreover this is a charity event so in the end, no one loses, well apart of Sir Richard in his short red skirt!
this is a classic example of working and playing hard. Wonderful gentlement bet and with good cause. More biz leaders should do more and give more back to the ppl. Ytl, taiko are the namely few that quietly giving back to society too. Great job!
Hahaha, crazy people.
wut we are waitin for a year!…haha!next seoson, bet for half nak*d branson or tony…sure the ticket price will be double2!
Urrggh…PUI !!! *vomits*
Oops, sorry. If that was disgusting, it was an involuntary action.
Anyway, I will fly SQ anytime.
Thanks but no thanks.
Next year, Tony should do similar stunt with his new nemesis, Proton. The two ‘lotuses’ fight together and whoever lose should don a sexy outfit and sweep the whole KLCC park!
i totally disagree with you..
this two person is Malaysian..there is no need to do the same thing with what Tony have done to Richard..
We are Malaysian..this is not good a very good culture to practise among Malaysian..
If Richard Branson wears a mini for Air Asia it will be tarnishing our Asian image. Winning must come with humility. Potraying our business peers in a bad situation is soo unkewl. We do not want to demean anybody. It is against our culture to do so. We gain nothing except for strange(r) looks from others. We would only gain admiration if we treat everybody fairly and justly.
Ouucch! There are many cultural saviors and moral policemen in this thread! This is just a jest – there’s nothing to be upset about. Syed Zainal is just not that type of person anyway. Just not his character to do such a thing.
In any case, there is no uniqueness or originality to this publicity stunt anymore.
However I think Armchair Critiquer is on the right track. We should have more “friendly competition” between Lotus and Proton (on and off the track) Air Asia and MAS bosses. This will promote healthy spirit of making sure everyone is on their A game all the time.
Positive thinking + Positive competition between them !
I like !
Nice we still have fun characters in f1
he is forever gay..haha
this is nothing to be honest.
we got porn stars doing charities. charliez theron/ eva mendes/ all those grade A actresses gone nude or do something in the name of charity.
i am carrying my anti-tony sentiments across the whole internet. lolz
why dude?
…
SK says:
16/11/2010 at 3:05 am
I prefer TF’s arse!
….. WTF?? R u gay???? urgghhh
Because he AA flight got delayed once and probably his dog or cat got run over by Tony perhaps.
Some people just like to carry baggage and remain miserable
Well guys..wat can i say abt proton..It is like da whole rakyat owes them..Jus sit around, point here n there, go for teh tarik here n there and jus make sure every month they have gaji buta masuk..semuanya ok watt!!!
https://www.airasiago.com/service/static_page.cfm?nav=enMALAYSIA&PAGE=richardbranson