by Karen Arukesamy

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 25, 2010): For those wishing to join the exodus home for the Chinese New Year celebration on Feb 14, public transport seats are moving fast and may be sold out by this week.

Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd (KTMB) train seats however were sold out in December for trips beginning early February till a week after the festival.

An officer on duty at the KTMB call centre told theSun the tickets were sold out since 30 days ago and there are no additional train services during the festive season.

A check at the city’s main bus terminal counters at Puduraya showed that express bus seats are still available but are selling fast.

Travellers who wish to buy their tickets must do so before end of this month to avoid disappointment. However, an official for Transnasional Bhd, one of the main express bus companies in the city, said tickets sales have been quite slow and there are many seats still available.

“People always tend to buy last minute because of their busy work schedule. So we started opening ticket sales for our additional bus services,” he said. He said nevertheless it is better for those who want to go back before the Chinese New Year to pre-book their seats or purchase the tickets earlier.

AirAsia spokesperson told theSun most of the east-coast flights are almost fully booked and that there is a surge in sales for destinations in Miri, Sandakan, Kota Kinabalu, Tawau and Kuching. “The sales have been good for the east-coast destinations. As for the Peninsular destinations, there are still many seats available,” he said.

Firefly marketing and communications head Angelina Fernandez said flights for the Chinese New Year period have been booked since October when Firefly announced its festive season promotion. “We have opened seven additional flights, which are also almost fully booked for the Singapore-Ipoh route and also have opened one additional flight for the Subang-Alor Setar sector,” she said. — theSun

Singapore Changi Airport welcomes Firefly

Monday, July 06, 2009

Changi Airport Group held a welcome ceremony for Firefly, to celebrate the airline’s commencement of operations to Singapore. Guests on board flight FY3505, from Subang (Kuala Lumpur), were warmly received at Changi Airport’s Budget Terminal (BT). Firefly, which commenced flight operations at the BT on 1 July 2009, is the fourth airline to join the Changi family in 2009.

Firefly, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, operates six daily flights between Singapore and Subang (Kuala Lumpur). The airline will begin operating routes between Singapore and destinations in Malaysia, such as Ipoh (scheduled flights commencing on 12 July 2009), Kuala Terengganu (from 14 July 2009), Kuantan (from 22 July 2009) and Malacca (from 1 September 2009). The airline also plans to launch flights to Alor Setar and Kota Bahru later this year.

In total, Firefly will add 12 daily flights to Changi Airport, representing a 12% increase in scheduled passenger flights between Singapore and Malaysia. With the airline’s new services, Changi Airport will be linked to nine cities in Malaysia via 110 daily flights, making it the international airport with the most connections to Malaysia.

Changi Airport Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Lee Seow Hiang, said, “Firefly is the fourth new airline to join the family of airlines at Changi Airport this year, and its entry heralds a new milestone in the development of air connectivity between Singapore and Malaysia. Passengers travelling to Kuala Lumpur now have the convenient alternative of landing at Subang, which is close to Kuala Lumpur’s city centre. For the first time in many years, Firefly will connect Changi Airport to 4 new Malaysian destinations, namely Ipoh, Kuala Terengganu, Kuantan and Malacca, bringing Changi’s city links to a record high of 196. These cities offer a diverse mix of heritage, culture and nature that have wide appeal to travellers across all ages. I believe these new links will greatly benefit the tourism and business sectors in our two countries.”

Mr Lee added, “Firefly’s new flights to Changi will add to the already burgeoning air travel market between Singapore and Malaysia. Between January and May 2009, total passenger movements between the two countries registered almost 1.3 million, a 20.2% growth compared to the corresponding period last year. Given the strong traffic potential on the Singapore-Malaysia routes and the extensive air network of Changi Airport, I am confident Firefly will find many new business opportunities at Changi. I therefore encourage Firefly to further expand its operations at Changi Airport, and add new services from other Malaysian cities to Singapore. Changi Airport is committed to supporting Firefly in its growth in Singapore.”

With the addition of Firefly, Changi Airport will be connected by 85 scheduled airlines, via 4602 weekly scheduled flights to a record high of 196 cities in 60 countries.

Tatiana Rokou – Monday, July 06, 2009

Firefly gradually invited avid aviation blogger, Azuan Zahdi on a flight with us to Singapore over the weekend for our Singapore Inaugural Celebration. Let’s have a look at what Azuan said about us.
Thanks Azuan!

Posted by azuan in :: All Posts ::, Brand Review, Featured Articles, Firefly Airline, Travel on 07 6th, 2009 | one response

Never in a million years that I would had imagine myself being introduced as “Azuan the Blogger” to a group of reporters, writers and photographers! My little personal blog I started few years ago solely to improve my English are now being noticed by more just my circle of friends, and I am happy with that. Last weekend I had my first glimpse of a media/reporter’s assignment when I was invited to join a team of Malaysian media, to celebrate Firefly’s inaugural flight into Singapore.

I’ve been twitter-ing about the event from my phone throughout the trip and the transcript can be viewed here.

A bit of background of what’s the event all about.

Firefly (a wholly owned subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines) 2nd daily flight on July 3rd 2009 departed SkyPark Subang Terminal at 10.35am with a full load of passengers that includes the public, Malaysian media, officials from Tourism Malaysia and Tourism Selangor, and, Singapore Tourism Board, Singapore Deputy High Commissioner to Malaysia and the Managing Director of Firefly, with its Senior management team to celebrate Firefly’s flight into Singapore. Firefly’s inaugural flight took off as planned on the 1st of July with 3 daily flights.

The celebration took off in an upbeat mood as Firefly’s entourage was dressed in a “mad hat” concept all ready to enjoy and party in Singapore. The Malaysian media were taken for a familiarization tour of Singapore by Singapore Tourism Board, and they also joined the Firefly’s “mad hat” party celebration, where free flights and hotel stays at all FY routes were up for grabs.

I am very grateful to receive the invitation as a media to cover the event on my blog, thanks to many feedbacks that I’ve provided openly and privately to the airline based on numerous flights that I clocked in with Firefly since its Fokker-50 days up till now.

My Media pass… probably the best thing that has happened since I started blogging! Being recognized as a media!

Being excited, I arrived at Subang SkyPark very early. Check-in was smooth and ground staffs were kind enough to create conversation even though my mind was all over the place feeling a bit nervous being on my first blogging ‘assignment’.

Received my boarding pass along with these documents to be filled. The normal entry form and a Health Declaration Card, a procedure introduced in the height of H1N1 cases in Singapore and Worldwide.

I then met up with Mr. Herman from Firefly along with the other media representatives. We had RTM, NTV7, TV3, NST Business Times, Malaysian Reserve, Sinar Harian, travel magazines and Azuan the unknown blogger! Hehe

Known or unknown, each of us had to have our face painted with Firefly logo. At that point i know that this trip would be a fun and crazy trip!

Boarding started on-time with passengers traveling with kids getting to board first free-of-charge. I purposely went in a bit late for me to have the space to take photos of the plane. Not everyday I have a Media pass that allow me to snap photos of the aircraft up-close and personal.

9M-FYA, the eldest brother of Firefly’s ATR series. Being prepared for flight.

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The flight load was quite good with at least 70% of seats being occupied. A good sign for the airline indeed.

We took-off from Runway 15 about 10-minutes late due to delay in departing from the gate but other than that the flight was smooth with good cruising weather at 17,000 feet.

Great hospitality by Flight Stewardess Seha and Flight Stewardess Azlina. I have flown with them separately on my prior flights with Firefly and I am always impressed with their friendliness and professionalism. Refreshments were served F.O.C, A muffin and Root Beer!

A bridge under construction.

Landed safely at Changi slightly behind schedule and after a short taxi, we were at Budget Terminal greeted by our host from Singapore

Not everyday you have Aladdin greeting you.

The leaders of two organizations.

We were behind schedule so were ushered through health scans, immigration and customs quickly to allow us to be in the ceremony.

The simple ceremony started off with speeches from Mr Lee Seow Hiang, CEO of Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, Dato’ Amirrudin, Acting Director General of Tourism Malaysia and Mr. Eddy Leong, Managing Director of Firefly.

Welcome Firefly Airline to Singapore!

Exchange of mementos.

Followed by a very nice zapin performance by kids from JB.

Souvenirs given away to passengers and media. Brochures, a cool Charles and Keith bag, a USB thumbdrive, a Firefly-Changi umbrella and many more.

The next post will cover the 2D1N fun we had in Singapore!

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Firefly is now having an introductory promotional all-inclusive one way fare at SGD 31 nett to any destination in Malaysia with no other additional hidden cost. Firefly’s incredible value includes FREE baggage allowance of 20kg with NO charge on baggage handling fees and in-flight complimentary refreshment and snack. The fares are already available for booking for travel period from now till 24 October 2009. For booking details, please visit www.fireflyz.com.my

For more reviews on Firefly, visit my Firefly Airline reviews page by clicking here.

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