KUALA LUMPUR — South-east Asian athletes who won gold medals at the recent Olympic Games will now get free flights for life on regional low-cost carrier AirAsia.

The airline made that pledge on Wednesday (Aug 24) through its CEO, Tony Fernandes, who wants to “reward those who gave us so much joy”.

In a post on his Facebook page, Fernandes said AirAsia wants to reward all Asean Olympic champions from the Rio Games free flights for life.

He said AirAsia will reward silver and bronze medallists too, but did not elaborate how.

“What an Olympics this was for Asean. AirAsia, which has its roots in Asean, wants to reward those who gave us so much joy,” Fernandes wrote.

“Also, they taught and reminded us never to give up on your dreams and never stop believing you can be the best in the world.

“Thank you to all the medallists for making us dream and believe.”

Asean Olympic gold medallists include Singapore swim star Joseph Schooling, who beat American great Michael Phelps to rewrite the Olympic 100m butterfly record with a time of 50.39s.

Others are Thai weightlifters Sukanya Srisurat and Sopita Tanasan, Indonesian badminton mixed-doubles pair Liliyana Natsir and Tontowi Ahmad, and Vietnamese shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh.

AirAsia’s offer is not the first aviation reward Texas-based Schooling has received since his Olympic feat.

On his return to Singapore last week, Singapore Airlines gave the 21-year-old undergraduate from University of Texas, Austin, one million Krisflyer miles along with a KrisFlyer Gold Card.

The frequent flyer miles can be used by Schooling to buy flight tickets or upgrade his seats from economy class to business or first class.

When all that have been spent, the Olympic champion will still have a budget carrier to count on.