AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes today brushed aside Singapore Airlines' plans for a long-haul budget airline that will challenge his AirAsia X, saying "piracy continues to follow me".

SIA announced on Wednesday it was looking to set up a new airline using wide-body jets within the year, saying there was an opportunity to make the most of an untapped market.

tony fernandes airasia jetstar deal Analysts said the move will put the new carrier in direct competition with AirAsia X, the long-haul affiliate of budget carrier AirAsia and British tycoon Richard Branson's Virgin Group.

But Fernandes said he would not be ruffled by the idea of new competition, despite the fact it would have financial clout, citing the fact that Tiger Air with its strong backing had failed to take his airline down.

"I left the music business thinking piracy has gone. But piracy continues to follow me. It is flattering to me. They laughed at us at first," he told AFP .

"When Tiger Air was started a lot of people asked me:'How are you going to compete with Tiger Air which has much bigger investors including Singapore Airlines and (Singapore investment fund) Temasek?'

"Tiger Air (now) has 20 planes and barely made a profit last year. So we will compete with SIA," he said.

Cheaper flights

AirAsia X was launched four years ago and flies to 14 cities, including London, Tehran, Paris, Seoul and Tokyo as well as destinations in China, India and Australia.

Fernandes also said he may boost the firm's Airbus fleet five-fold to 500 as more and more people in the region demand cheaper flights.

"I have always said that. Even 10 years ago, I said that because if you look at US Southwest Airlines they have 500-odd aircraft and they are in a market which is much smaller than Southeast Asia.

"We have 600 million people just in Asean. If you start adding China and India it is another billion people," he said, referring to the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations.

He did not, however, give a timeframe for the expansion.

AirAsia on Tuesday announced first quarter revenue increased 20 percent to RM1.05 billion.

For the full year 2010, the airline said it carried 16.0 million passengers, up 12 percent from 14.3 million the previous year.

- AFP