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Firefly head-on competition with Air Asia?

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Major recruitment FY - today's newspaper thestar. Firefly head-on competition with Air Asia? New routes including Vietnam, China, Phillipines and many more.... Mas 737 400 will be transferred to FY?

 

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Does it say FireFly? I saw this ad today too and I was wondering which airline it belongs too since it is not stated but I thought it would be Firefly since they have the ATR's and will be receiving the B737 soon. Does this mean that the B737's will operate from KUL while the ATR's from SZB?

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Firefly targets flights to Sabah by year-end

 

MALAYSIA Airlines (MAS) (3786) is set to allow wholly-owned FlyFirefly Sdn Bhd to begin operating its B737-400 aircraft to Sabah.

 

Firefly is said to have been in talks with Sabah tourism authorities this week, and is likely to proceed with the move by the year-end.

 

MAS has been reported to have 36 B737-400 aircraft, which are due to exit from service by 2014.

 

Firefly currently operates the ATR 72-500 turbopropeller servicing routes in Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia from its two hubs at the Penang and Subang airports.

 

Sources said that both Firefly and MAS will operate the Sabah routes, with Firefly flying out of the KL International Airport in Sepang.

 

On August 9, MAS said Kota Kinabalu would be its eastern hub and gateway to promote travels to and from China, Taiwan, North Asia, Indonesia and Australia.

 

The hub will be developed over three stages from November 15 this year to June 3 next year.

 

MAS said it was targeting 150 flights and a cabin crew of 250 for the Kota Kinabalu hub by next June. Six aircraft, two of which would be the B737-800 and four B737-400, would be based in Kota Kinabalu.

 

An aviation expert, when contacted, said that Firefly would first need to obtain approval from the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) to fly the new local routes.

 

"The DCA air worthiness division will need to audit the transfer first. This will then be followed by a flight destination approval from the authority's air transport division," the source said.

 

MAS did not reply to questions sent by Business Times.

 

Source: http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/fliez-2/Article/

Edited by flee

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2.5 hours in a prop, hmm...guess not.

Edited by Waiping

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Wouldn't that be obvious that there will be overlapping of routes considering that both airlines will depart from the same airport and arrive at the same destination airport. A strategy to unseat Air Asia perhaps? Or in the end might as well cannibalize MAS itself...

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Firefly is my favorite airline for intra peninsular flight solely based on the fact that they operate out of Subang. When they operate the 737-400 fleet out of KLIA to Sabah and Sarawak, they would not be on the top of the list as I would prefer MH as it would by then have newer planes (which would be less prone to tech delays) and operate from the main terminal. Air Asia would the second choice as I hate using the LCCT but that will change once the new LCCT is open.

 

Remember the many delays when AK operate the old 737-300. that what I predict will happen to FY with the aging exMH 737-400.

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Firefly is my favorite airline for intra peninsular flight solely based on the fact that they operate out of Subang. When they operate the 737-400 fleet out of KLIA to Sabah and Sarawak, they would not be on the top of the list as I would prefer MH as it would by then have newer planes (which would be less prone to tech delays) and operate from the main terminal. Air Asia would the second choice as I hate using the LCCT but that will change once the new LCCT is open.

 

Remember the many delays when AK operate the old 737-300. that what I predict will happen to FY with the aging exMH 737-400.

 

Firefly is prob. banking on a lower cost base to offer a hi-dense LCC-esque service, like AK. But, like you said, pax will likely face some travel disruption due to aircraft going tech. In fact, it is not uncommon these days to see MH flights to SIN, BKK, CGK facing delays due to a 734 going tech somewhere in the system. And, MH is not giving the LCC market all to AK to enjoy. I guess this is all about control of market share.

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There is no bad news in this case.I think this is a very good development for our aviation industry in malaysia.For KLIA,the entering of firefly will increase the number of airlines operating there.Infact,the number of flights,passengers and destinations at KLIA also will be increase.For the routes,i think firefly will only complement MAS flight.This mean firefly will fly to that destination at the time/days that MAS does not fly to.

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Firefly's current strategy, flying from smaller airports is really working for them using turboprops. But if they decide to use the old 734s, will they operate into bigger airports which can then overlap with MH networks?

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How about MASwings market if Firefly fly into Sabah and Sarawak routes? I think it's good for Firefly if their use B734 for high demand capacity such as to KBR, BTH, MED, SIN, LGK and expand to others new Thailand, Vietnam routes.

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How about MASwings market if Firefly fly into Sabah and Sarawak routes? I think it's good for Firefly if their use B734 for high demand capacity such as to KBR, BTH, MED, SIN, LGK and expand to others new Thailand, Vietnam routes.

 

FY will not do intra Sabah/ Sarawak. So, neutral impact to MASWings.

 

I wonder if FY will be closer to AK model or to what MI is to SQ.

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My friend in firefly are now in conversion to 737.. few of them actually... So, I think 737 in firefly color will be soon.. maybe before end of this year..

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Logically, MASWings should also pick up a few old ex-MH B734s themselves so that they can also fly to KUL and other regional destinations.

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Logically, MASWings should also pick up a few old ex-MH B734s themselves so that they can also fly to KUL and other regional destinations.

 

 

Yeah, this is what I had in mind. But then again what do I know? I'm just hoping whatever decision there is to be made, ends up being the right one..

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