Fernandes questioned the source of the remaining 90% of employees and asked for clarity on their qualifications and salaries offered.

“What salaries are you paying? Let’s be transparent. So, are your 90% all school leavers?” he asked in a post on LinkedIn yesterday.

While Fernandes expressed support for SIAEC’s operations in Malaysia, he criticised the lack of reciprocity in Singapore.

“We have been trying to get AirAsia Singapore approved. We are in 5 Asean countries. The people of Singapore have little choice,” he said, adding that he had even attempted to buy a low-cost carrier there but it was rejected.

“If we want an open Asean, Singapore needs to stop protecting its markets and have real competition like Malaysia and other Asean countries do.”

The AirAsia Group founder was responding to a recent statement from SIAEC senior vice-president of base maintenance Jeremy Yew, who clarified that only 10% of its technical staff in Malaysia were recruited from Malaysia Airlines Berhad Engineering Services (MAB Engineering).

Yew assured that all hires, including those from Malaysia Airlines, were made through an open recruitment process involving career fairs, job portals, and LinkedIn.

Several quarters had questioned the move to allow SIAEC to operate locally after a news portal reported that 60 Malaysia Airlines engineering staff had resigned and joined the aircraft maintenance firm owned by Singapore Airlines.

It was previously reported that SIAEC had signed a 15-year agreement with Impeccable Vintage Properties Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional, for the lease of two hangars at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang, with an option to extend the lease for another 15 years.