THE chief executive officer of the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) Ahmad Nizar Zolfakar said Malaysia is willing to work with Singapore to resolve outstanding regulatory and airspace issues.  

His statement comes a day after Firefly said it was suspending all flights into Singapore from December 1 due to delays in securing the relevant approvals and clearance for its operations at the new terminal at Seletar Airport

Ahmad Nizar said CAAM “fully respects” Singapore’s decision to move Firefly’s operations from Changi Airport to Seletar Airport.

He said, however, that CAAM was “never consulted on the timeline to move scheduled turboprop operations to Seletar Airport starting December 1, 2018”.

Firefly was supposed to be the first commercial airline to commence operations at the new Seletar terminal, which is meant for turbo-prop aircraft and is designed to handle 700,000 passengers yearly.

“Malaysia is willing to work with Singapore on the regulatory issues related to Singapore’s plan to move Firefly operations from Changi Airport to Seletar Airport, including on outstanding airspace issues,” Ahmad Nizar said in a statement.

He said this included reviewing the terms and conditions of delegation of Malaysia’s airspace to Singapore for the provision of Air Traffic Services.

The suspension will affect some 13,000 passengers and cost Firefly “a lot of revenue”, its chief executive officer Ignatius Ong said yesterday. – November 23, 2018.