KUALA LUMPUR (May 16): Low cost carrier Asia Asia Group Bhd (AAGB) group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes lauded the company’s achievement in its job creation efforts since its inception.

In a series of tweets from his handle @tonyfernandes today, Fernandes said: “A proud day for me. 500 million guests flown on AirAsia since we started 16 years ago. 23,000 jobs created directly and millions indirectly.”

“Created so many careers from Despatch boy to pilot. From guest service to CEO. Created diversity with first female pilots. Now higher than any American airline female pilots. 4 female CEOs,” he said.

In recent days during the run up to and in the aftermath of Malaysia's 14th general election (GE14), Fernandes came under fire for showing he supported the Barisan Nasional (BN) government by flying the former prime minister on a plane that had a BN theme.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) has lodged a police report, following claims made by Fernandes in a video that went viral on social media last Sunday (May 13).

In a statement yesterday, Mavcom said it categorically refutes Fernandes's accusation that it told the low cost carrier to cancel all 120 additional flights applied for during the GE14 period, calling the accusations “baseless and malicious”.

At midday break today, AAGB rose 1.76% or 6 sen to RM3.47, with 5.49 million shares done.