Loss-making Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has ended its multi-million ringgit shirt sponsorship deal with Queens Park Rangers, the English Premier League club owned by their former director Tan Sri Anthony Fernandes.
The reported RM18 million deal was initially set to last for two years after the flag carrier and AirAsia became joint jersey sponsors last September in a move that came just a month after the now discarded share swap between the two airlines.
The deal drew widespread criticism from business analysts and politicians from both sides of the divide with some warning that MAS, which later reported a record loss of RM2.5 billion for the financial year, was being dragged into AirAsia boss Fernandes' "football fantasy."
But the club announced on its website yesterday that Asia's biggest budget carrier will now be its sole shirt sponsor for the upcoming 2012/3 English football season.
"Queens Park Rangers Football Club is delighted to announce that AirAsia have signed a new contract as our Official Playing Kit Sponsor and Main Club Partner.
"AirAsia initially announced that the airline will be the Official away and third kit sponsor of QPR for the 2011/12 season. The relationship has developed and grown over the past season in the Premier League, and it was a natural progression to become the full kit sponsor," it said.
Previously, MAS's logo was emblazoned on the home jersey of the team that Fernandes purchased a two-thirds stake in for RM220 million and called a marketing vehicle for the two airlines which had just signed off on the share swap the week before.
“This sponsorship is the first major initiative of our new brand and marketing strategy that would see important advertising money spent on boosting our top line. This is a key component in our drive to regain global market share, profitability and pride for the people of MAS,” MAS executive director Mohammed Rashdan Yusof had said last September.
The Malaysian Insider
The reported RM18 million deal was initially set to last for two years after the flag carrier and AirAsia became joint jersey sponsors last September in a move that came just a month after the now discarded share swap between the two airlines.
The deal drew widespread criticism from business analysts and politicians from both sides of the divide with some warning that MAS, which later reported a record loss of RM2.5 billion for the financial year, was being dragged into AirAsia boss Fernandes' "football fantasy."
But the club announced on its website yesterday that Asia's biggest budget carrier will now be its sole shirt sponsor for the upcoming 2012/3 English football season.
"Queens Park Rangers Football Club is delighted to announce that AirAsia have signed a new contract as our Official Playing Kit Sponsor and Main Club Partner.
"AirAsia initially announced that the airline will be the Official away and third kit sponsor of QPR for the 2011/12 season. The relationship has developed and grown over the past season in the Premier League, and it was a natural progression to become the full kit sponsor," it said.
Previously, MAS's logo was emblazoned on the home jersey of the team that Fernandes purchased a two-thirds stake in for RM220 million and called a marketing vehicle for the two airlines which had just signed off on the share swap the week before.
“This sponsorship is the first major initiative of our new brand and marketing strategy that would see important advertising money spent on boosting our top line. This is a key component in our drive to regain global market share, profitability and pride for the people of MAS,” MAS executive director Mohammed Rashdan Yusof had said last September.
The Malaysian Insider
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