SUBANG, 3 Ogos -- Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif Firefly, Ignatius Ong (dua, kanan) dan Pengurus Besar BonusLink, Victor Goon (dua, kiri) bersama pemenang utama, Pauline Teh Teng Hoon (tengah) bergaya dengan kereta Peugeot 408 yang dimenanginya dan 100,000 mata BonusLink pada majlis penyampaian hadiah 'Fly Firefly & Be Rewarded di Terminal Skypark hari ini. --fotoBERNAMA (2016) HAK CIPTA TERPELIHARA
PETALING JAYA: Firefly Sdn Bhd, expecting passenger growth to be flat this year, will stimulate demand by organising more sales campaigns, downsizing frequencies of some routes and developing more profitable routes.
Chief executive officer Ignatius Ong said the airline’s load factor had averaged between 65% and 75% from January to July.
“We are now in a consolidation mode and we will look into our routes to ensure that the destinations we fly to are really what the public wants,” he told a press conference after the prize giving ceremony of ‘Fly Firefly and Be Rewarded Contest’ in partnership with BonusLink.
While there would be no route cuts or the introduction of new ones for this year, he said Firefly would reduce the frequencies of destinations that were not profitable.
“For well performing routes such as Penang, Alor Setar, Kota Baru and Johor, on the other hand, we are keen to develop these routes further, if possible.
“We need to make sure that we are sizing ourselves correctly and that we are not taking on too much on the back of weak consumer sentiment,” he said, adding that the last route it withdrew was the Kota Baru-Langkawi flight due to the lack of sustainable demand.
Firefly, forecasting a softer demand for this year, expects to fly about 2.3 million passengers this year, the same as in 2015, mainly due to the weaker ringgit and spending power of the public.
To cushion the impact, Firefly planned to stimulate demand by organising another sales campaign in two weeks and forging smart partnerships with companies like BonusLink.
Due to the lacklustre demand, Firefly have also postponed taking delivery of aircraft purchased from ATR, a French-Italian aircraft manufacturer.
“We have spoken to ATR and whatever we have ordered from them is postponed for the meantime.
“Whether or not delivery will be done next year will depend on how the market performs this year,” he said.
Firefly purchased 20 aircraft from ATR three years ago, of which eight were already delivered. - Bernama
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