By Nancy Nais
KUCHING, March 4: As the demand for domestic travel increases following the relaxation of rules regarding interstate travel, Firefly is set to reinstate its jet operations to Sabah and Sarawak.
Beginning April 11 this year, the airline will start with a one-time daily return flight from Penang to Kuching and Kota Kinabalu respectively, while it will also service a twice-daily return flight from Penang to Johor Bahru.
This will be ramped up to thrice-daily return flight from Penang to Johor Bahru and twice-daily return flight from Penang to Kuching and Kota Kinabalu, respectively from April 25 onwards.
Being part of the Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), Firefly Chief Executive Officer, Philip See asserts the strong network and code share with its sister companies Malaysia Airlines and MASwings will provide seamless travel experience to its guests, while diversifying its base connecting Peninsular Malaysia to Sabah and Sarawak.
“It has been a challenging past two years for everyone across industries and they hope these new services will accelerate the overall economic recovery and domestic tourism in 2022.
“Our first inaugural flight of jet operation was held in May 2021. It was launch from Penang to Johor Bahru. However, the operation was temporary suspended due to MCO 2.0 imposed by the government.
“In December 2021, Malaysia Airlines restarted its Penang – Kuching direct flight. However, from this April 11 onwards, Firefly will service the routes, on the resumption of its Penang based jet operations together with Johor Bahru and Kota Kinabalu,” See said during a media briefing today.
The jet services from Penang aims at connecting Malaysia with a different offering of value service concept that entails product unbundling coupled with convenience.
Guests will have the flexibility and convenience to add other privileges such as seat selection, insurance coverage, in-flight hot meals, seat selection as well as the opportunity to accrue and redeem Enrich points.
Firefly also has a new value bundle to complement its service and also for customer’s convenience.
Customers can save more than 50 per cent of its various value bundles offers from Plus, Extra or Flex and enjoy its feature such as 20kg baggage allowance, in-flight hot meals, two times flight changes, priority baggage, boarding & check-in, all seat selection, travel insurance and many more benefits.
Apart from that, Firefly also incorporates local Malaysian favourites for its in-flight hot meals such as Penang Nasi Kandar, Melaka Asam Pedas, Johor Kacang Pool, Kelantan Nasi Dagang and many others.
Junior meal options are also available for children with a limited-edition free gift during while stocks last and customers may book this online or on-board.
While enjoying flying in the comfort of Boeing 737-800 aircraft, See added that the routes will bring advantages to both business and leisure travelers as Penang International Airport is a major Northern hub that connects to other major cities across Asia.
To a question if Firefly see itself competing with other budget airlines in Malaysia, See said naturally they will be competing, particularly with AirAsia.
“But honestly, we don’t compete on the same level. Our strategy is different from them, including product offerings and partnership with MAG.
“That is why we talk about fair bundles, and differentiation with MAG so that we can offer the synergy that is better than our competitor,” See said.
Meanwhile Firefly also assured they have put in place the new safety and health protocols on ground and on board to safeguard the wellbeing of their passengers, crew and staff.
Measures such as aircraft disinfection, sanitisation and thorough cleaning, as well as mandatory face mask, temperature check, physical distancing, contact tracing and encouraging online check-in to minimise contact are implemented. — DayakDaily
