AirAsia's Dato' Tony Fernandes (Photo courtesy of Global Brand Forum)

One is well-dressed, rather shy and soft-spoken with a deprecating sense of humour. The other wears a red cap, dresses in jeans and loves to kid around like the big kid he is, or appears to be.

On the surface, you wouldn’t think the two men had much in common but, as I found out at the Global Brand Forum at which both were speaking, they do have a couple of things in common.

One, both are anxious to enter Singapore, a market that remains off-limits to the Qatar-based television channel and the Malaysia-based low cost airline.

Said Al Jazeera’s Nigel Parsons, “We may be a global brand but Singapore is one of the few countries where we’re not available. We are still undergoing a lengthy monitoring service to see whether it’s safe for us to be unleashed on their people.”

AirAsia’s Dato’ Tony Fernandes meanwhile said that it’s been as difficult for AirAsia to land in Singapore “as for the Americans to put a man on the moon”, later jesting, “if we can’t fly to Singapore, we will buy Singapore Airlines”.

Both are, however, optimistic that the golden gates of Singapore will be unlocked soon.

Parsons said he “couldn’t think of a reason” why Singapore’s broadcasting industry regulator, the Media Development Authority, would not give Al Jazeera a licence. (The MDA has said it is assessing the network “based on criteria such as public expectations, as well as the ability to meet programme standards”.

Al Jazeera’s Nigel Parsons (Photo courtesy of Global Brand Forum)

Fernandes said, “We’ve spent the last five years trying to fly to Singapore and we are optimistic that we will fly to Singapore soon”. He couldn’t resist adding, “though I’ve told my staff that the closest I will probably get to Changi is Changi Prison”.

Other than the desire to enter Singapore, both men are also where they are today because of disillusionment.

Parsons, who joined Al Jazeera International in August 2004 to launch the English-speaking channel, called it a “personal odyssey”.

“I had left my previous company, disillusioned by the failure of the media to ask tough questions. My bags were packed, destined for Spain and then this thing fell out of the sky literally.”

In Seoul at the time, he received a telephone call – there was an air ticket waiting at the Qatar Airways office and that he had been booked for a 3am flight to Doha.

“I remember the Korean taxi driver on the way to the airport playing Bob Marley’s King of Reggae on his radio and I thought, not bad. In 36 hours, I got the job.”

Fernandes meanwhile remembers the fateful moment when he decided to leave the music business to start an airline. He had been with Warner Music for 12 years and, in that time, it went through four mergers.

“I loved the corporate world – lunch with Madonna and all that – and I flew SIA first class everywhere, but it was one merger too many.

“I was at Rockefeller Plaza and I was listening to these guys at AOL and thought, they really believed in what they wanted to do. Steve Case turned to me and asked, what should the share price be in a year’s time? At that time, it was $80 so I said $90 so I wouldn’t lose my job and he said, wrong, baby, it will be $500.

“I walked out of the room, resigned, sold all my stock options and when I flew from New York to London, I was at a bar having a Ribena when I saw Stelios (Haji-Ioannou) of EasyJet on television and thought, what a great business.

“I decided at that point to start an airline. It’s nothing different, really, you just need drive and passion.”

And disillusionment.