Fernandes defends AirAsia crew after flight experiences technical problem

PETALING JAYA: AirAsia Group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes defended his crew onboard flight QZ535 from Perth to Denpasar, which had to return to Perth due to technical glitch.
The flight was forced forced to return to Perth just 25 minutes after taking off on Sunday, the same day Fernandes, 53, got married to actress Chloe in a private ceremony in abroad.
He refuted on Twitter, foreign news reports that the crew had allegedly "panicked" and were "hysterical" as the plane was about to land.
"It is frustrating when (the) media twists stories. Our pilots and crew did a superb job. Plane lost pressure, which happens to many aircraft," he tweeted on Monday.
He added that the crew told the passengers to "sit down, belt up and get oxygen on" for safety reasons and not scream as reported.
Fernandes commended the pilot, stating that the aircraft was brought to a safe altitude "in a controlled manner" before landing.
"Depressurisation happens. I have been in another airline when that happened and pilots also did an excellent job as they are trained for it," he said.
He had also retweeted fellow user who was in the flight during the incident stating that that the aircraft descended 22,000ft in 10 minutes at a "decent time" and not a "sudden drop" as reported by certain media outlets, and that the reports should be revised.