Little League Soccer Malaysia sets itself apart from the competition with the goal to produce a complete player who is a blend of different football styles from all over the world, writes Izhar Shazly.

The signing ceremony, witnessed by the Menteri Besar of Perak, Y.A.B. Dato’ Seri Dr. Zambry Abd. Kadir, was conducted at Bangunan Perak Darul Ridzuan. The state government of Perak was represented by the State Secretary of Perak, YB Dato’ Dr. Abdul Rahman bin Hashim whereas signing on behalf of Firefly was its Managing Director, Dato’ Eddy Leong.

Dr. Zambry, who has been instrumental in making this strategic collaboration a reality, was full of praise for this joint effort, as Firefly’s foray in connecting Singapore and Ipoh has indeed been a beneficial move for Perak. The tourism industry is flourishing with the increased number of inbound tourists, and the business interest from Singapore has improved tremendously. Despite last year’s H1N1 flu outbreak, the state stopped just shy of their three million tourists’ target.

 The strategic collaboration is focused on achieving the following key result areas:

- To enable international air connection between Lapangan Terbang Sultan

Azlan Shah (LTSAS) in Ipoh and Changi International Airport in Singapore

- To promote Perak as a destination for mass and premium tourism

- To encourage new investment and business developments which will spur economic development of Perak State

 Dr. Abdul Rahman said that in this joint exercise, the Perak state government for its part, will spend RM2.4 million for Firefly to jointly market and promote tourism in the state for the first year, whereas another RM1.8 million will be spent in the second year.

“To induce and attract tourists and investment into the state, advertising and media campaigns in Singapore, Malaysia and other countries need to be done, and this spending is crucial to cover such costs. Apart from that, the costs will also be mainly for material and creative production fees; events and road shows; familiarization trips for media, travel agents and business counterparts; international marketing via international trade fairs; and other activities related to marketing, advertising and promotions of tourism for the state of Perak,” added Dr. Abdul Rahman.

“Firefly’s scheduled Singapore-Ipoh operation began on 12 July 2009 with 4-weekly flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Within 2 months, Firefly increased its frequency to daily flights to meet high demand from both Singaporeans and Malaysians. We even mounted extra flights during the recent Chinese New Year to meet the demand of those going home to celebrate this festivity with their families. Presently we are looking at increasing the frequency to 2 x daily flights as soon as we procure additional aircraft.” said Eddy.

 Eddy also added that Firefly has been marketing Perak state aggressively via the code-share arrangement with Malaysia Airlines in the international market. During the recent international trade fare at ITB Berlin, Firefly received many sales inquiries regarding the Singapore – Ipoh route. Its travel agency arm, Firefly Holiday, offers online bookings at www.fireflyholiday.com which offers immediate holiday confirmation for customers around the world.

 Reporters mingling before the press conference

 The crowds arrived on time.

Angelina, Head of Marketing & Communications explaining the games & activities to be held during MATTA.

Thank you to SkyPark for the venue!

Dila showing the Phuket and Koh Samui package while Yin May explains.

The girls in Firefly jersey! Want one? Stay tuned to find out.

Yes, she’s reading our NEW inflight magazine, Kunang-Kunang. Want one? let us know.

Lau Yin May, Head of Firefly Holiday.

Lawrence Chai, Head of Distribution & IT explaining about the RM1 mobile booking promo for MATTA.

Great job guys..i mean girls!

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

Life has been busy for me once again. I hardly had any time to enjoy blogging and even go online on my computer since day 1 of 2010. I am fortunate to still be able to stay in touch with the happenings in my facebook page and check my email on the go thanks to my mobile phone.

Mobile Internet is something I really enjoy as it allows me to access wealth of information literally at my fingertips. It also makes life easier for me whenever I travel without my notebook pc. It just got even better when Firefly Airlines recently announced the availability of its booking services via mobile phones. Being a frequent Firefly-er, I am glad that the airlines has introduced this mobile feature which allow me to plan for my future trips at anytime be it during lunchtime, before going to sleep, while taking the LRT or even when the usual Internet connection on PC is down!

I had the opportunity to try the new Firefly Mobile last night. For first time user, you have to register once at mobile.fireflyz.com.my . Registration was fast and straightforward!

The registration process allows you to pre-enter your information, and it will be used during the mobile booking. Your information will be populated automatically so that you have minimal data entry when you book your flights using the Firefly Mobile Application. I love this feature as it minimize data transfer cost and is very useful when I’m doing my booking while roaming outside Malaysia.

After registration, you will receive this Service Message.

Note that Firefly Mobile Application will run on most of the JAVA enabled mobile phones. The Blackberry and iPhone versions will be made available soon.

Also after the registration, I received an SMS containing a PIN Code. This secret PIN Code along with the Credit Card’s CVV number are the ‘password’ that you have to key-in every time making a booking through the mobile phone!

After a complete installation, icon for Firefly Mobile appears on my phone.

Accessing the Firefly Mobile application.

Simple Interface, a common feature for mobile applications.

Simple Interface, a common feature for mobile applications.

Extremely fast response

Similar options as per web booking

Personal details automatically filled in.

Two screens after that, with the right credit card details, I had successfully booked a flight via Firefly Mobile. It took me less than 10 minutes and the flight itinerary was emailed within a couple of minutes!

I had tried Firefly Mobile and it is not only user friendly and fast but also a secured system as long as you protect your mobile and passwords properly.

Now everyone can book on Firefly!

A good tool for someone who loves quickie, errr….I mean loves to be quick.

SUBANG JAYA: Firefly has managed to achieve sales totalling up to RM500,000 simply via Facebook up to September 2009.

That has been the most effective social media advertising for the airline. Since the Firefly Facebook page was set up, the airline already has 11,756 fans.

Head of Marketing and Communications, Angelina C. Fernandez, said that Facebook was like a loyalty campaign for the airline and the nunThers were increasing daily.

“Due to the slower economic condition this year. o via the media. However, the social media advertising seems to be a good tool,” she said.

Angelina said Firefly often has promotions and contests on the social network where members can participate.

“To reward our Facbook customers, we have offers especially for them as well as competitions enabling them to win free tickets. We Angelina: Expects more also look out for talents for passengers through our advertising and corpo– Facebook from Thailand, rate video via Facebook,” Indonesia and Singapore. she said.

Firefly also has adver- our marketing tisements on the website whieb is current
tion next year from other countries in the region.

“About 60 per cent of the travellers on Firefly are from Malaysia. Through Facebook and other advertising methods in the first quarter of 2010, we are determined to expand our promotions to Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore,” she said.

Angelina added that 80 per cent of travellers on Firefly were aged between 25 to 50-years from the working community and a high percentage of them were Internet savvy.

She said more than 50 per cent travellers on Firefly book their tickets online while others do so through ticketing agents.

Angelina said the Firefly website receives the highest number of hits

Meet these beautiful yet talented tennis players here at KL.

The time & date for the meet the fans session for The Showdown of Champions 2009 is as below :

Time : 2.30 pm – 3.30 pm

Date : Friday 18th Dec 2009

Venue : Level 2 Concourse, Pavilion

Don’t miss out on this opportunity now!

It’s a public holiday anyway.

November 17, 2009 in Experience | Tags: monsoon cup, sailing, profressionals, fun, exciting, challenging | Leave a comment

We had briefing from the Monsoon Cup champion, Peter Gilmour and of course, we were taught the basic rule of safety (the thought of falling into the water came into my mind). But anyways, it was pouring, the water was high,cold and muddy (as we were near the coast), the wind was blowing madly and I thought we were not ready to go out in this weather.

We waited for a mere 15 minutes for the rain to slow down, the wind was blowing and we were wet before we can sit on the boat.

After that, we went sailing on a F36 sail boat made from New Zealand in the pouring rain. I was on the white team in which another professional, Dave Mills act as our guide. He assigned me to pull the rope, in which im steering based on the ’sail’. It was really challenging, having to pull (have to be strong),having to look at the wind direction and mind you, it’s all water on your feet and it was raining (which was kind of hard to open my eyes).

Hence, i really felt like i was in the Monsoon Cup race (thanks to the wind). It was an experience that i will never forget. It was tiring as i used all my body parts but definitely something in which i thought i can and will never do but i did it!

We were so proud of ourselves when we beat Gilmour to the finish line.

To get an experience similar to mine, i have a solution for you.

Just join the Firefly “Sail your way to Monsoon Cup” 2009 on http://blog.fireflyz.com.my

So, grab that chance and sit on the boat when they race. Plus, Firefly will also sponsor your flight to Terengganu for FREE! all you need to pay for is your accommodation in which it will definitely be cheap in TGG.

I’ve went sailing, how about you?

Join now! It’s FREE anyway.

http://blog.fireflyz.com.my

http://dotcherry.wordpress.com/

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.

\

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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