Airbus SE and AirAsia Bhd., the discount airline built by Tony Fernandes, were inseparable for years, with the boisterous aviation executive gorging on ever-larger aircraft orders to become the manufacturer’s biggest customer for single-aisle jets.
That happy marriage ended in acrimony last week after Airbus admitted to illegally trying to sway plane sales and agreed to a record $4 billion bribery settlement. By Monday, Fernandes stepped away from the Malaysian airline he bought in 2001 and turned into one of the best-known brands in Asian aviation.
Fernandes was one of Airbus’s most loyal customers, a fixture at air shows where he’d make a splash with huge deals while bucking the stodgy formalities of traditional business.
