Qatar, 30 Oct 2010 – Firefly, Your Community Airline, was honoured with the Green Initiative of the Year award in the Airline Category at the prestigious 2010 Leaders in Aviation Award held in conjunction with the Doha Aviation Summit hosted by Qatar Civil Aviation Authority at Grand Hyatt, Doha on 30 Oct 2010.

“Firefly is the first to introduce the revolution of turbo prop with its ATR 72-500 in Malaysia for domestic and regional flights. With higher fuel efficiency, low vibration levels and lower noise emission, the fleet is reputed to be the most economical with jet like comfort and environmental friendly aircraft in existence. In this sense we stand together with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Kyoto Protocol under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in reducing carbon emissions in the environment by upholding our Carbon Policy,” said the elated Dato’ Eddy Leong Managing Director of Firefly upon accepting the award at the function sponsored by Mitsubishi Regional Jets.

“Firefly is thrilled to be the airline of choice as proven by this award. This honour will spur us to greater heights to be recognized as one of the most community-focused airline in the world, offering a new flying experience to all our passengers. In fighting for the cause of environment, we believe that it can be done, and this is how we do it,” added Eddy again.

As part of the Support Green efforts, Firefly believes in adopting the 3R (Reduce, Reuse & Recycle) practice of using the earth’s resources in the most sustainable fashion in our working operations and culture. Part of the initiatives are re-using existing airport and facilities as well as encouraging paperless environment through our web and mobile booking.

Just marking its third year into the industry last April 2010, Firefly has instantly taken charge by thinking globally, and acting locally. Rising above towards an exceptional growth in the aviation scene, this of course includes effective implementation that considers innovative methods in utilizing existing technologies and cost effectiveness while considering the impact on the overall environment. In terms of sustaining this good balance, Firefly marks the beauty of being small.

The Green Initiative of the Year category honours the airline that has demonstrated strong commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and has adopted a responsible attitude towards climate change. Initiative’s overall environmental benefits, emission reduction strategies, innovative method of implementing or utilizing existing technologies, effective implementation and cost effectiveness were the main criteria for judging this award.

This annual award event is in recognition of individuals and organisations across a range of categories in the aviation sector. From success stories that span practices and innovation, including corporate achievements, the strongest individual efforts, and the most compelling community efforts, The Leader in Aviation Awards recognise, promote and reward excellence across the globe in the most exciting industry in the world.

Subang, 12 Oct 2010 – Firefly, Your Community Airline hits BIG once again with more than 70% higher response than last year, at the KL MATTA Fair 2010 held at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), last September 3 to 5, 2010 with its Fly Long Haul promotions. At a prize giving ceremony today, at Firefly’s office, Subang, the highest spenders of each of the three consecutive days were presented two return Malaysian Airlines tickets to Paris, Amsterdam and Johannesburg.

The top three lucky winners were Joanne Tan (1st day), Lee Sow Wan (2nd day) and Teh Suet Hoon (3rd day), who all made bulk purchases of Firefly’s exclusive packages worth RM37,000 in total. Additionally, there were also complimentary hotel vouchers and Chronotech watches given away to the second and third highest spenders. All these prizes are worth more than RM200,000.

After winning two return free flights to Johannesburg, Teh Suet Hoon who was still full of elations said, “Firefly is full of surprises. I am still overwhelmed as I never thought I would be such a jet-setter, traveling on my planned Koh Samui family trip during CNY holidays and then off to Johannesburg. I expected a prize, but not this big!”

Ms Angelina Fernandez, Firefly’s Head of Marketing & Communications said, “The promotional flights and packages were already going like hot cakes on the first day. Seeing that, it was no surprise that our overwhelming sales percentage hit beyond our initial targeted figure by more than 15% overall. Many purchases were made by our very own Malaysians for this year end holidays.  There were also many purchases made very much in advance for the first quarter of 2011.

Langkawi being a popular local destination was highly in demand and was our top selling domestic packages at the MATTA Fair which is encouragingly in line with our commitment in promoting Cuti-cuti Malaysia. These sales contributed more than 50% to our total sales”

“As for our regional destinations, Koh Samui was in demand with more than 25% of our overall sales. Most of the purchasers were honeymooners planning for year-end travel, purchasing both tickets, hotel and tour packages.  This destination is also a hot spot among the Malaysian youngsters.  Medan was also seen as an attractive destination, with sales of 20% from our total. We believe the overall response this time around was great due to the truly affordable best bargains whereby we have thrown in some complimentary value-adds such as free night stays, dinner, transfers or spa sessions,” she added.

FIREFLY’s FLEET

To further sustain its stability in the tourism sector, Firefly will be increasing its present turboprop fleet with the purchase of three additional ATR72-500s, two of which will be delivered in December 2010 and the third in January 2011. Entry into service will be one month from the delivery date. This brings Firefly’s total turboprop fleet size to 10. The additional aircraft will be used to strengthen Firefly’s current network footprint through increased frequency for high demand sectors and reinstatement of some Penang based routes.

KUALA LUMPUR: Firefly will double its Singapore-Ipoh services to 14 times weekly by January next year from seven times weekly now, a company official said yesterday.

She also told Bernama here yesterday that the community airline would be adding three ATR 72-500 aircraft by February next year to 10 from seven currently.

Meanwhile in a statement, Firefly managing director Datuk Eddy Leong said the airline would reinstate its Penang-Kuantan, Penang-Kuala Terengganu and Penang-Kota Bharu services in line with its expansion programme.

All-in fares from RM45 are being offered to celebrate the reinstatement.

“We envisage increased accessibility and convenient connectivity between the east and west coasts of Peninsular Malaysia and we are confident this will contribute positively towards boosting the local economy,” Leong said.

Firefly is also offering an all-in fare for the Subang-Langkawi, Subang-Kota Bharu, Subang-Kuala Terengganu routes from as low as RM45 one way and also Ipoh-Singapore and Subang-Singapore from RM75 one way.

The deals, in conjunction with the expansion programme, are now open for sale with a booking period from Sept 20 to Oct 17 this year for travel between Oct 31, 2010 and March 26, 2011. — Bernama