AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes today likened the pain he felt when he had a kidney stone to the pain that his airline has caused to others.

It all started one night, he said, when he woke up feeling a sharp pain, which was later confirmed to be a kidney stone.

"And they gave me drugs to take the pain away and I was like, 'Wow, this is fantastic, this drug. Please give me more'," Fernandes said at the launch of AirAsia's new Airbus A320 Neo fleet, which began operations today.