MALAYSIA-BASED airline AirAsia has signed a one-year extension to its sponsorship of the newly-named Caterham Formula One team ahead of the 2012 season.
A sponsor to the then-called Lotus F1 team in 2011, AirAsia has renewed its backing to the tune of $1.45m according to a filing to the Bursa Malaysia (an exchange holding company), with $1.14m being paid for team livery branding space and a further $315,000 for ‘additional advertising, on-ground and PR-related activities’.
The renewed deal is of little surprise considering the airline’s owner, Tony Fernandes, is also the team principal of Caterham F1, and a character well-known for taking a vested interest in his sponsorship properties.
In August 2011, Fernandes bought the majority stake (66%) in Premier League club Queens Park Rangers for £45m, a transaction which he candidly described as two-fold – for his love of the club and as a marketing vehicle for AirAsia.
The news of the Caterham extension comes in the same week that AirAsia finally completed negotiations for a sponsorship deal with QPR, despite branding the club’s away shirts since September, which will see the airline pay the Premier League outfit £350,000 for a one-year deal.