MALAYSIA. AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes has said his airline will stop selling onboard cigarettes as he launched an impassioned call for more action to be taken to cut down on smoking in public places in Southeast Asia.
Fernandes had previously praised the Malaysian government’s smoking ban for restaurants that will come into force at the start of 2020, and has now said AirAsia “are putting our money where our mouth is” by taking steps to discourage smoking.
As well as stopping onboard cigarette sales, AirAsia has made its offices smoke-free and the airline is incentivising staff to stop smoking, Fernandes said.
I’m super proud to announce that @airasia will stop selling cigarettes on duty free. Coupled with all our offices being smoke free and incentivsing staff to stop smoking with better insurance, we are putting our money where our mouth is.
— Tony Fernandes (@tonyfernandes) September 19, 2019
He added: “I urge all governments in ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] to stop smoking in public places. Look how much we spend on health-related smoking issues.”
The latest AirAsia onboard duty free catalogue for Malaysian flights featured six SKUs from across the Dunhill, Marlboro and Mevius brands.
The Moodie Davitt Report has reached out to AirAsia for further information, but it is not yet clear when onboard cigarette sales will cease from.
