Budiey
Conor McCarthy wins Ernst & Young EOY award in ‘Emerging’ category
KUALA LUMPUR, 24 October 2011 – AirAsia’s Non-Executive Director and Founder / Chairman of Ireland’s Dublin Aerospace, Conor McCarthy, was recently named as the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® (EOY) award winner in the ‘Emerging’ category.
The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® award is a recognition programme organized globally which recognizes, acclaim and support entrepreneurs. At present, the programme is run in more than 50 countries across six continents. The Irish edition, now in its 13th year, is distinguished as one of the most prominent programme in the world.
*Speaking to The Irish Times on his award win, Conor said, “It was a really difficult time generally, and we had to convince investors that this (Dublin Aerospace) was a business that could work, despite the difficulties that had beset the aircraft manufacturing business in the previous years.”
He also conveyed some valuable pointers to aspiring entrepreneurs, advising them to realize the value of hard work. He adds, “You just can’t underestimate the importance of hard work. This country is going to have to be rebuilt through a combination of imagination and hard work.”*
Conor McCarthy was appointed AirAsia’s Non-Executive Director on 21 June 2004, and also heads the airline’s Safety Review Board. He is a qualified Avionics Engineer and holds a First Class Honours degree in Engineering from Trinity College, Dublin. He is also currently the Chairman of Dublin Aerospace, an MRO (Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul) based in Ireland.
As AirAsia’s Non-Executive Director, Conor played an instrumental role in developing, fine tuning and steering the airline’s business direction and operations, which is anchored in its mission to democratise travel, encapsulated in its tagline Now everyone can fly.
It has ferried more than 120 million guests to date. With him on board, the airline has also established itself as the Truly Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) airline, with its unmatched connectivity in the region and its “sky bridges” – routes – that link the capitals and communities of Southeast Asia to each other and beyond.
Since its launch as a Low-Cost Carrier in late 2001, AirAsia has grown from 250 employees, two aircraft and one destination to an Asean-wide Group with more than 8,000 employees, 104 aircraft and more than 78 destinations. AirAsia has been operationally profitable from day one of its launch as a low-cost carrier. Together with its low-cost, long-haul affiliate AirAsia X, the airline now links three continents – Asia, Australia and Europe.
