GEORGE TOWN, July 31 – Firefly, an airline under Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MATTA Penang and Johor Chapter to pave the way for greater collaboration and partnership The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) ceremony was held at Wembley-A St Giles Hotel, Penang and signed by Chief Executive Officer of Firefly, Mr Philip See Yew Jin, while MATTA Penang and MATTA Johor Chapter presented by their respective chairman, MATTA Penang Chapter Chairman, Mr Vergis Matthew and MATTA Johor Chapter Deputy Chairman, Ms Lee Hwee Ching.
Also present at the signing ceremony were the Director, Ministry Of Tourism, Art and Culture Malaysia for Penang Office, Mr Jonathan Freddy P.Bagang and MATTA President, Datuk Tan Kok Liang. The collaboration will allow Firefly with MATTA Penang and MATTA Johor, two chapters of The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA), to explore deep collaborative initiatives and relationships, which include new business opportunities, joint sales and marketing campaigns focusing on Penang to Johor Bharu vice versa, offering attractive travel packages as well as branding and promotional activities between an airline and travel service providers.
Firefly Chief Executive Officer Philip See said, “We are delighted to extend our collaboration with MATTA Penang and Johor Chapter to drive a broad spectrum of collaborative efforts. We believe these joint efforts will be able to strengthen the relationship between the airline, industry players and customers as part of the recovery process for the tourism sectors for the post-pandemic.” “Recently launched of our Boeing 737-800 from Penang to Johor and other destinations including Langkawi, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and even Phuket later will be able to connect customers within the destination for various purposes for leisure and business.
Overall, we have seen a steady and gradual uptake of domestic travel – such options are accessible and affordable for many of our customers.” MATTA President Datuk KL Tan said, “This collaboration is an important initiative to grow inbound tourism for Penang and Johor. We are working on various other initiatives to promote inbound tourism across the country. While MATTA Penang Chapter Chairman Vergis Mathews added, “In this new normal, innovative, and creative options with numerous players in the tourism industry will encourage travel and local holidays for everyone. With Firefly as our partner, our aim is two-fold, which is to revive the magic of air travel and encourage domestic holidays for our customers,” Under the MOU.
MATTA-registered travel agents in Johor and Penang will be able to sell a unique package of 3 days and 2 nights for two passengers at RM599. This includes airfare, hotel accommodation and breakfast. While the offer is part of an incentive to promote inbound and domestic tourism, this promotion is valid for one year until 27 July 2023. Apart from this package, there are more packages available at MATTA registered travel agents and tour operators. To boost the travel and tourism products further, MATTA Johor Chapter is putting an effort and collaborating with Tourism Johor for more promotional and campaign activities for the communities of Penang.
The effort is also reflected and supported by MATTA Penang Chapter and Penang Global Tourism. As a beginning, several activities have been planned, such as a twin city package, roadshow, MATTA fairs in several states and aggressive digital advertisement. Last April, Firefly launched its Boeing 737-800 jets from Penang to Langkawi, Johor Bharu, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu. This August, the services will be expanded to Phuket, Thailand, as part of international routes expansion and connecting people within the country.
With this launch and collaboration, Firefly aims to connect more customers by offering them a wide range of airfare categories, hotels and travel packages with all service providers by MATTA. MATTA is the national umbrella representative body for the entire travel industry in the country, with about 2,900 member organisations comprising local tour and travel organisations as well as numerous overseas affiliations.
