Firefly mulls north, south Asia routes

Community airline, Firefly, plans to add new destinations in Northern and Southern Asia within the next five years to offer potential customers more destinations, said managing director Datuk Eddy Leong.

He said the company would explore new routes in North Asia, including Taiwan, Japan and South Korea and the Indian sub-continent in South Asia.

"We will fly beyond Asean as part of our long term plan by offering passenger flights to popular destinations," he told reporters at the launch of Firefly''s inaugural flight to Sibu, Sarawak, here today.

Under a code share partnership with its parent company, Malaysia Airlines, Firefly will operate the Kuala Lumpur-Sibu route, utilising its B737-800 aircraft and the Kuala Lumpur-Sandakan sector from August 1.

Leong said Firefly would also look at other new domestic destinations such as Kuala Lumpur to Kuching, Miri and Bintulu and at the same time, turn the Johor airport into its hub to connect flights to Kuching, Sibu and Surabaya, Indonesia.

"All this is still in the early stages of planning because we must discuss with our parent company, the best way to grow the load factor of existing routes," he added.

He said the commencement of the twice-daily flights between Kuala Lumpur to Sibu, signified Firefly's commitment to provide a direct access from the nation''s capital to the central region of Sarawak.

He said the service offered travel convenience between Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia while also providing an easy domestic connectivity for foreigners visiting the country.

Sibu is Firefly's second destination in Sarawak after Kuching. Flights depart the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 7.20am and 6.40pm respectively and from Sibu at 9.45am and 9.05pm.

"We are upgrading our system to enable us to offer interlining facilities with Malaysia Airlines for passenger and baggage checks through to the final destination of customers," he said, adding, this would commence by September 1. - Bernama