About 13,000 passengers affected by Firefly’s suspension of flights to S’pore

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 23): Malaysia Airlines Bhd said about 13,000 booked passengers will be affected by the temporary suspension of FlyFirefly Sdn Bhd’s operations into Singapore from Dec 1, following the city state’s plans to move all turboprop flights from Changi Airport to Seletar Airport. Changi Airport will be for jets only.

As an immediate solution, the national airline told The Edge Financial Daily yesterday all affected Firefly passengers will be reallocated onto Malaysia Airlines’ flights.

“Malaysia Airlines flies 56 times a week on the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore-Kuala Lumpur route and has enough capacity on its Boeing 737-800 to absorb Firefly’s current booked passengers,” it said.

“We are currently working hard to resolve the issue,” the national carrier added, when asked how long does it expect the suspension to be.

In a Facebook post yesterday, Firefly, the turboprop arm of Malaysia Aviation Group Bhd, confirmed that it has had to suspend flights into Singapore from Dec 1 until the relevant authorities have cleared remaining matters in relation to the Singapore’s authority plans to move its turboprop operations between the two airports.

“Firefly has not been provided any definitive timeline by the authorities for the delay. Upon final approval from the authorities, Firefly will then resume its flights into Singapore,” it added.

On the suspension’s impact on Malaysia Airlines/Firefly’s financials as the KL-Singapore route is a lucrative one for the airline, Malaysia Airlines said: “It is too early to tell and we are looking at resolving the matter as soon as possible.”

It was reported that Firefly is currently the only turboprop operator at Changi Airport. It offers 20 daily flights at Changi Airport — to and from Subang, Ipoh and Kuantan.

Due to a restriction at Changi Airport prohibiting any new turboprop flights, Firefly is also currently the only commercial carrier with access to the lucrative Subang-Singapore route.

According to news reports, having commercial turboprops relocate to Seletar Airport has caused some concerns in Singapore’s business aviation community because there is already a shortage of parking at Seletar Airport.

In an interview with FlightGlobal in October 2017, former Firefly chief executive officer Ignatius Ong indicated that the lack of instrument landing system facilities at Seletar, which are required by the ATRs, was a major obstacle.

He also said Firefly planned to increase services to Singapore once it relocates to Seletar.

In recent years, Firefly has been unable to increase services to Singapore because Changi Airport Group, manager of Seletar, stopped issuing new slots at Changi Airport to turboprop operators.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on Nov 23, 2018.

Click here for more property stories.