“AirAsia is a digital company which happens to fly planes,” said AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes.

As AirAsia embarks on a transformation journey to become more than just an airline, we have been heavily investing in digitalisation, which includes the development of tech talent of tomorrow.

This week, through our partnership with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), we hosted 30 students from predominantly B40 households at our global headquarters, RedQ for a special ‘Hour of Code’ programme. The program forms part of our shared prosperity campaign to inspire young minds, and to showcase the fact that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

The ‘Hour of Code’ programme, which was rolled out to SMK Bentong school this week also helps students to get a feel for the abundance of technology career opportunities at AirAsia, such as a data scientist, a role which is now in high demand thanks to the digital economy landscape we live in. 

SMK Bentong is one of MDEC’s many #mydigitalmaker participants - an initiative designed to produce more digital innovators, while at the same time cultivate digital innovation in schools and the community. The school has been promoting digital innovation culture for in Bentong by hosting digital making competitions and was recently selected as the Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM)  model school for the state of Pahang. 

The ‘Champion School’ concept is designed to prepare and provide Malaysian students with creative thinking and digital innovation skills in line with the nations Industrial Revolution 4.0 agenda.

‘Hour of Code’ began with a fun and engaging Star Wars coding game, led by the MDEC team and continued with a talk and presentation from AirAsia Data Scientist, Mr Lee Bing Yuan. Lee spoke to students about the many career choices available in the data & tech space, while teaching them new skills such as coding, computer science, aviation, marketing, social media, and more. 

Aireen Omar, AirAsia Group President (RedBeat Ventures) and Shasha Ridzam, AirAsia Group Head of Global Affairs, Government Relations & Sustainability also livened up the ‘Hour of Code’ event.

Fara Husna, Tech Talent Development of MDEC said, “This is important to expose the young generation that it is never too early to start familiarizing with technology, and such partnership with AirAsia is the best method to open their eyes to what is really happening in the current workforce.”

“The ability to adapt to the rapidly evolving technology is very important in this digital economy era to ensure employability in various sectors, not just in the tech industry. In order to remain competitive, even in the world of healthcare, banking, fashion and automotive, progress in digital technology is definitely necessary”, added Fara. 

On 16 January 2017, AirAsia announced its first-ever open innovation hackathon, Airvolution 2017: Spearheading Innovation in Asean. The event supported the tech community in giving it a platform to explore new ideas, as well as to express their dreams through funding and guidance. Next, in 27 March 2019, AirAsia was also one of the co-organisers of Aviatar Hackathon 2019, a national aerospace initiative designed to foster innovation and creative thinking through a hackathon-style competition. Industry experts and students were able to exchange ideas, be creative, and have fun as part of the initiative.

With all of these developments, we are well on our way to realising our vision to become more than just an airline.