Left: Firefly’s B737-800 aircraft
Which brings me back to a recent conversation at a post-press conference lunch when a reporter from one of the local dailies remarked how active Firefly had become in engaging the media and community at large. And it seems to be working, if its healthy passenger load factor is a gauge.
The new menu is yet another way of winning over its passengers and to entice them to use its jet services. It includes mouth-watering asam pedas (sour spicy) fish with steamed rice, aromatic chicken sambal(chilly gravy) with lemon-grass rice, vegetable briyani for vegetarians and sweet sour fish with fried egg noodles.
Firefly’s head of marketing and communications, Angelina Fernandez, said the airline is paying special attention to in-flight meals as they are an important part of the overall travel experience and is a way of “winning passengers’ hearts through their stomach”.
Popular existing items on the initial menu have been retained, including the ever-popular nasi lemak with chicken rendang (cooked with coconut milk, local spices and herbs), Malay fried rice with chicken satay (barbequed meat on skewers) and other hot meals.
Another new facility introduced late last month is return check-in facility. Passengers travelling to a destination and returning on the same day are now able to pre check-in for their return flight when checking in for their departure destination.
Fernandez is confident this new service is going to be popular, primarily among business travellers. “Our passengers can also enjoy this facility with no cost, plus will secure more personal time at their destination with no rush to the airport, especially during peak hours of the day.”
These new facilities may not be a big deal for legacy airlines or for established low-cost airlines but they are for the airline, which had a humble beginning in April 2007 as a unit of Malaysia Airlines, operating out of the SkyPark Terminal in Subang (Kuala Lumpur) and Penang International Airport initially with just two turbo jet aircraft. It now flies out of the KL International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang with its brand new B737-800 aircraft, and has hubs in Kuching (Sarawak) and Kota Kinabalu (Sabah).
The airline’s latest move to designate Johor as its southern hub with the delivery its new fleet of Boeing 737-400 aircraft on March 26 is another boost to its load factor. In fact with the setting up of this new hub Firefly has revised its passenger target to five million this year from an earlier target of three million passengers. (Read Firefly wings south).
The airline is believed to be eyeing international routes, although currently its preoccupation is with domestic and regional routes. But one thing is for sure – Firefly is on an aircraft acquisition trail.
Currently, the airline uses ATR 72-500 turboprop aircraft, which operates from its Subang and Penang hubs. It started using its new 737-800 jets for the Kuala Lumpur-Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur-Kuching sectors from January out of KLIA.
It will be receiving its 11th ATR 72-500 aircraft in October, and 12th one in November 2011. The two additional aircraft will be used to strengthen Firefly’s current network footprint through increased frequency for high demand sectors; such as to Langkawi, Penang, Johor Bahru and Singapore from its city airport hub in Subang, said its managing director, Dato’ Eddy Leong (pictured right).
Firefly currently flies to 10 domestic and seven regional destinations with its fleet of ATR, with a total of 324 flights a week.
Leong said Firefly is negotiating for additional ATR72- 500s to be delivered gradually till 2015 to fuel its expansion into more secondary routes in its initiative of continuously strengthening its network.
Firefly is also looking more at social media to enhance its engagement with customers. It has a Facebook page with more than 131,000 followers (to date). It also has the distinction of being the first company in Malaysia and the second airline in the world to take a page on Foursquare, the location-based social network.
• Photos courtesy of Firefly
