FIREFLY AIMS TO FLY SOME ONE MILLION PASSENGERS BY MAY 2012 FROM ITS SOUTHERN HUB

By Amanina Mohamad Yusof
JOHOR BAHARU (Bernama) – Firefly, a unit of Malaysia
Airlines (MAS), aims to fly some one million passengers from its southern hub by
May next year, its Managing Director Eddy Leong said Thursday.

To date, Firefly has flown 3.6 million passengers and is targeting to fly
five million passengers by the end of this year.

“We are pleased to report that Firefly’s passenger load out of our southern
hub today averages 70 per cent,” he told reporters after the commencement of
Firefly’s services from Johor Baharu to Kuching Thursday.

Leong said the introduction of Firefly’s services underlined the airlines'
commitment to develop Johor Baharu as its southern hub, offering Johoreans more
travel choices and contribute significantly to the rapidly developing
opportunities in commerce and tourism.

“Johor is a significant part of Firefly’s growth plan as our target market
will now expand to mass passengers from the southern region, Singapore, Batam
and transit passengers in Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.

Leong said Firefly’s southern hub would soon go regional with the
introduction of flights to Surabaya on Aug 14; Bandung (Aug 16); and to Bangkok
in November.

He said flight tickets from Johor Baharu to Surabaya and Bandung are already
on sale and the load factor looked promising.

He said the southern hub would operate with two Boeing 737-400, with a
seating capacity of 162, for a maximum of three years.

The aircraft would be upgraded to Boeing 737-800 later, he said.

“The reason why we are operating with Boeing 737-400 for the starter is
because the 737-400 is at a affordable lease rate and it does gives us the
flexibility to offer our passengers low-cost fares,” he said.

In addition, the airlines would also operate domestic flights between Johor
Baharu and Langkawi and Johor Baharu-Penang in conjunction with the upcoming
school holidays in the second quarter of this year, he added.