PETALING JAYA: Firefly's inaugural flights to Sabah and Sarawak today will have load factor surpassing 90%.
It will be using the B737-800 aircraft which can seat 198 passengers for the KL-Kota Kinabalu and KL-Kuching sectors.
“Our load factor for the flights is above 90% and for the first month of our jet operations, we expect the load factor to average around 70%,” Firefly marketing and communications head Angelina Corrina Fernandez said.
The airline's lowest fares are more than 50% sold till October.
Firefly expects load factor to average around 70% in the first month of operation for the east Malaysia sector.
It has been marketing its all-in fare for KL-Kuching and KL-Kota Kinabalu for RM59 one way between Jan 17 and May 15 and the promotion is expected to end soon.
The twice daily routes will be increased to four times daily from Jan 24. The plan to go low cost came about when its parent company, Malaysia Airlines, announced that it wanted to compete in the low cost market segment.
Firefly will continue to offer services using the turboprop aircraft from its base in Subang airport to points within the country and regionally.
“The ideal link for our jet operations is east Malaysia but we would also start services within the peninsula to Penang, Langkawi and Kota Baru when we get more aircraft.
“We will also consider the KK-Kuching and Kuching-Miri routes,” Firefly managing director Datuk Eddy Leong told StarBiz recently.
Firefly will operate six Boeing 737-800s this year and by next year, this would be increased to 13 aircraft.
He said it would probably fly to Asean countries either next year or in 2013.
“We would like to fly our jets to cities like Singapore and some secondary routes. Once we go to Asean, we can even link the Singapore-Langkawi route and all this is about improving connectivity in the country and regionally,” he said.
He said Firefly could also fly to any point in Asean today. The airline wanted to “ensure that whatever plan it had would fit into the group's network and it would be a collective effort.
Firefly also has plans to set up four new hubs for its jet operations, one each Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Penang and Senai.
