Tony Fernandes has spoken out about the recent AirAsia tragedy which saw 162 people lose their lives in the Java Sea.
Flight QZ8501 from Indonesia to Singapore crashed on December 28 due to poor weather, killing 155 passengers and seven crew, in one of the worst airline disasters in recent history.
The fatal accident was the first in AirAsia's near 20-year history and QPR chairman Fernandes, the founder of the low-cost airline, admits it has been a tremendously difficult seven weeks since.
"I think the only way I do know how to manage these things is with my heart," Fernandes told the Daily Mail.
"Just confront it and deal with it. It has just been a nightmare to be honest. The only way I know how to deal with it is to deal with it.
"I get text messages every day from the families. They all have my mobile phone number.
"I've been going to funerals and that's hard. But the families have been amazing to us. They've given me strength."
He added: "That was really hard. What do you say to someone who has lost five people on their plane?
"I don't know. Human nature, whatever, gives you the strength to find a way.
"Burying my own staff was a nightmare. Taking a 22-year-old girl on a plane and burying her in her home town. But you find the strength."
