Firefly to suspend all flights into Singapore from Dec 1

SINGAPORE — Malaysian budget airline Firefly will suspend all flights into Singapore from Dec 1, it said on Thursday (Nov 22) in response to media queries.

The suspension will be in place “until the relevant authorities have cleared remaining matters in relation to the Singapore authority’s plans to move turboprop operations from Changi International to Seletar (Airport)”, a spokesperson said.

The carrier added that it 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. In the meantime, arrangements are being made for all affected passengers,” it added.

The airline declined to comment when asked what were the reasons for the delay, and details of the arrangements for affected passengers.

Firefly’s chief executive officer Ignatius Ong told The Malaysian Insight: “Based on what we have sold from December 1 to next year, we’re looking at about 12,000 to 13,000 passengers who will be affected”.

He said that Firefly “doesn’t have a Plan B” with regards to resuming its flights to Singapore.

Mr Ong said that he had approached Changi International Airport authorities to request that the airline continues operating out of the airport until the issue with Seletar is resolved, but was told the landing slots at Changi were no longer available as they had been given to another airline.

“It’s not up to us anymore,” said Mr Ong. “It’s dependent on both Malaysian and Singaporean regulators now.”

Earlier, the carrier told the Straits Times: "We will move to Seletar Airport for sure. As to when that will happen, we are still in the midst of settling some issues internally and with CAG (Changi Airport Group).”

The moving of turboprop operations to Seletar, so as to free up capacity at Changi, comes after a new S$80 million passenger terminal opened its doors on Monday.

Scheduled turboprop flights will start operating from the new Seletar terminal from December 1.

TODAY earlier reported that Firefly was supposed to be the first commercial airline slated to commence operations at the new terminal, which is designed to handle 700,000 passengers yearly.

The low-cost carrier, a subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, is the only airline that currently operates turboprop flights between Changi Airport and Subang, Ipoh as well as Kuantan. There are 20 flights daily.