By Nancy Nais
KUCHING, April 11: Firefly Airlines celebrated its inaugural flight from Penang to Kuching with the arrival of its Boeing 737-800 aircraft at Kuching International Airport today.
The flight carrying 98 passengers took off from Penang at 1.55pm and arrived at Kuching at 3.50pm with a grand ceremonial water salute.
All the passengers were greeted by Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry, and Performing Arts Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah; Deputy Minister of Tourism Datuk Sebastian Ting Chiew Yew; Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Hii Chang Kee; Sarawak Tourism Board chief executive officer Sharzede Salleh Askor; Malaysia Airlines Berhad group chief operating officer Ahmad Luqman Mohd Azmi; and global head of sales Roslan Ismail.
Group chief executive officer of Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), Captain Izham Ismail, said Firefly would operate its Boeing 737-800s aircraft from Penang to Johor Bahru, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching, offering comfort and convenience for passengers travelling to and from major cities in Malaysia.
This comes at an apt time as the recent reopening of Malaysia’s borders, signifying growth that will further strengthen the airline’s services and offerings for all its guests.
The routes are expected to boost the tourism sector in respective states.
“Apart from Penang-Johor Bharu reinstatement, today there is also the inaugural Firefly flight from Penang to Kuching and Kota Kinabalu.
“Firefly, together with Malaysia Airlines and MASwings, will continue to play its active role as carriers of the nation, prioritising the safety and wellbeing of its passengers as we welcome them back to experience Malaysia and reconnect with loved ones once again.
“As a Group, we look forward to the upcoming months as we continue to reinstate our pre-Covid operations and introduce new, exciting markets for passengers to Fly Malaysia and beyond,” Izham said.
Firefly will run twice daily return flights from Penang to Johor Bahru and once-daily return flights from Penang to Kuching and Kota Kinabalu.
Beginning April 25, Izham said these frequencies would be increased to three times daily from Penang to Johor Bahru and twice daily from Penang to Kuching and Kota Kinabalu, respectively.
To elevate the experience beyond convenience, Firefly has introduced its new value bundle services where customers can tailor-make their travel needs and get 50 per cent off its new value bundle offers from its Plus, Extra or Flex fares and enjoy its feature such as 20kg baggage allowance, in-flight hot meals, two times flight changes, priority baggage, boarding and check-in, all seat selection, travel insurance and much more value for money benefits.
Meanwhile, Firefly is now offering a 30 per cent discount for domestic flight bookings until April 17 for the travel period until October 2022.
“With Malaysia’s border reopened, MAG is looking to reinstate other flights that have been temporarily suspended and increase frequency to key markets.
“The Group aims to achieve approximately 70 per cent of its pre-Covid capacity by the end of 2022,” Izham added. — DayakDaily
