The Oakland Raiders announced Friday that they are entering a sponsorship deal with AirAsia, the largest low-fare airline in Asia, to serve and expand the franchise's global fan base.
Highlighting the sponsorship deal is an AirAsia A340 airliner named "Xcellence," which is adorned with Raiders marks and imagery, including the team's shield on the tailfin and an eye patch on the nose of the plane. AirAsia also will host a "1,000 Seats Courtesy of AirAsia" Web-based contest in which students will be chosen at random for the opportunity to win free tickets to Raiders home games. Program and contest details will be made available on Raiders.com and AirAsia.com.
"We are absolutely thrilled with our new relationship with AirAsia," Raiders chief executive Amy Trask said in a statement released by the team. "It is a unique and audacious relationship between two truly global organizations. As always, we eagerly seek creative opportunities to serve and interact with our fans throughout the world, and we are delighted to work with AirAsia on this creative endeavor."
The Raiders maintain a global presence and communicate worldwide through the team's official Web properties, which feature original and translated content in six different languages -- Tagalog, Japanese, German, Chinese, Spanish and English. The Raiders are the first and only NFL team to produce a full-content independent Spanish language Web site.
AirAsia services the most extensive network in Asia, with 122 routes covering more than 65 destinations. Within seven years of operation, AirAsia has carried over 70 million passengers and grown its fleet from just two aircraft to 80.
"This is a very meaningful moment for all of us in AirAsia," AirAsia Group CEO Dato' Sri Tony Fernandes said in the statement. "We are very excited to associate ourselves with a great, iconic team like the Oakland Raiders as they reflect our own endeavor for excellence. This is AirAsia's latest effort in boosting our brand globally via our extensive route presence across Asia. With AirAsia's Airbus A340 Oakland livery plane, we would be able to deliver just that and further enhance our brand. Despite not operating into the U.S. yet, AirAsia has already captured the attention of the U.S. public, and Aviation week's Laureate Award that we won recently is a testimony of that."
