It’s past midnight and Sheila Romero is still going through a report, a colored marker in one hand, a glass of water in another. The silence in her well-appointed home in Makati City relaxes her, as she runs her fingers through her cellphone. She’s sending a long “Thank you” group chat message to the executives in her office.
By Bum Tenorio
Sheila Romero, vice chairman of AirAsia Philippines, is at the top of her game. It takes a lady boss to make the airline company franchise soar with P29-billion in gross revenues for 2019.
“Yes, 2019 is AirAsia Philippines’ banner year. And no, it’s not only to my credit but also to our AirAsia All Star’s team—from ground handling crew to cabin crew, from admin employees to core management team,” Sheila says.
AirAsia Philippines is under the AA Holdings Inc., where Sheila is the chairman. In her airline business, she also heads the audit committee. Sheila is on top of the airline’s operations in the Philippines. Her husband, Deputy House Speaker Mikee Romero, owns 60 percent of AirAsia Philippines.
On top of the airline’s profitability and revenues, AirAsia’s market share as a low-cost carrier is up by 20 percent in 2019. Its load factor (international and domestic passengers) is at 89 percent.
Sheila does not believe in bumping off passengers. Her business guideline is “no to overbooking” because one disgruntled bumped-off passenger is tantamount to a bad review. And a bad review that goes around means a loss in income.
Because she is a woman, and the only female owner of an AirAsia franchise, Sheila is meticulous. The carpet of each of the 24 AirAsia Philippines’ Airbus 320 aircraft (that can load 180 passengers each) should be vacuumed regularly. (Four more aircraft, including A321 Neo planes that can each seat 240 passengers, will be added to the fleet in 2020). The scent in the cabin should be friendly to the nose. The toilets should always be clean and deodorized. And the food ordered by the passengers—be it chicken inasal, pares fiesta or sisig—should be tasty and of quality.
Sheila does not only keenly understand revenue figures, she also deals with the total package of the airline business. After all, she says, customer care and satisfaction is part of the deal.
Is the airline business new to her, even if she and Mikee first dipped their hands in AirAsia in 2011, beginning with 15 percent ownership?
“Well, the airline business is a hospitality business. I have been in the hospitality business since the early ‘90s,” says Sheila, owner of the Roku Group Inc. that includes the Oracle Hotel in Quezon City; Nara Thai Restaurant in Mega Fashion Hall in Megamall, Ayala Malls Manila Bay and Greenbelt in Makati; and Roku Japanese restaurant. She’s used to hard work, having put up her own catering business and her own restaurant Azurro Bistro and Wine Bar in Makati in the ‘90s.
“We will continue to strive to work on our competitive strength to capture a bigger market share from a strong No. 2 in the Philippines’ low-cost carrier realm, to No. 1,” says Sheila, a consistent outstanding student of St. Theresa’s College. She graduated cum laude with a double major—BS Applied Economics and BS in Management of Financial Institutions—at the De La Salle University.
“More planes will arrive, more frequent flights; more exciting destinations like Narita, Guam and Honolulu; more sumptuous food from our in-flight meals, and definitely more well-trained and beautiful flight attendants who beam our brand image—vibrant, energetic and gorgeous!” adds the beauteous Sheila.
Sheila is all smiles when she talks about AirAsia being the market leader in destinations like Caticlan, Kalibo, Tagbilaran, Puerto Princesa and Tacloban. Their flights from Kalibo to Seoul and Manila to Shanghai are also on top of the game.
AirAsia’s hubs in the Philippines are found in Manila, Clark, Kalibo and Cebu.
In 2019, AirAsia Philippines launched the following routes: Manila-Osaka, Manila-Bacolod, Cebu/Clark-Kaohsiung, Taiwan, with a second flight from Manila to Bangkok.
For 2020, aside from Manila-Narita and Manila-Osaka-Guam and Honolulu, there will also be additional flights from Manila to Bangkok, and the new routes Manila-Zamboanga and Manila-Tokyo.
Sheila notes that AirAsia is the biggest low-cost carrier in terms of connectivity because it flies to 160 destinations.
“I’ve learned that in this business, the name of the game is thinking out of the box, being swift in acting and reacting, being thorough and relentless,” she says.
She notes that AirAsia has continuously achieved a remarkable feat as the World’s Best Low-Cost Airline for 11 years in a row by Skytrax. “We have made remarkable strides in showing the world that low cost, as delivered by AirAsia, is of great value and quality in service and experience.”
“We are driven by our desire to continuously provide utmost convenience and ease in travel, from the speed of getting a booking confirmation to checking in satisfaction in your flight experience, from swift disembarkation and pick up of luggage.
Our goal of continuing to provide our customers with the utmost excellent service at low cost is certainly shining brighter with Air Asia. We are on an uptrend and we are determined to achieve higher double-digit revenue results in 2020,” Sheila says.
She adds: “Our mission of providing affordable fares for all Filipinos will not be complete until we paint the skies red with our AirAsia banner.”
Hard work pushes Sheila to succeed. It is the engine that keeps her going. It fuels her flight to fly. “Hard work and working hard—that’s what successful people do. Mikee and I won’t be where we are today if we have not instilled in our system the value of perseverance, determination, hard work and 100 percent passion in many endeavors that we go into. Whether business, sports or even friendship. You strive to make it better, you nurture it, consistently… not just sometimes,” says Sheila.
Her faith in humanity is also at a fever pitch. She heads the iWantToShare Foundation, an advocacy group that raises funds to help children with cancer at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH). Last July, Sheila and her group held an art auction and the proceeds of the activity went to the renovation of the isolation unit of PGH’s pediatric hematology-oncology department (in the outpatient area of the Cancer Institute).
Sheila and Mikee, aside from being passionate art collectors, are also very passionate about helping communities put up their churches, one of which is the Luminous Cross Sanctuary in Agdangan in the province of Quezon.
Sheila’s strong devotion is anchored on the beautiful childhood she experienced at home. Her parents equipped her with a solid spiritual foundation when they started to bring her to Baclaran Church when Sheila was only in Grade 3.
Where does Sheila get her momentum to be all that she is? “From my family. My husband and our children are my inspiration.”
At the end of the day, Sheila is a dutiful wife to Mikee (she waits for him before she sleeps, even heats his food and joins him on the dining table when he arrives late from his work in Congress). She is a doting mother to Milka (who runs her own restaurants like Sushi Nori and Ms. Gee), Mandy (who is taking up Public Health Care Management and Policy at Georgetown University), Santi (who is a Grade 9 student) and precocious, three-year-old Steff.
With her family and her line of work, Sheila is all the more driven to dream bigger, “chase new wonders,” and achieve better. She’s flying.
The Lady Boss of AirAsia is flying high.
