KUALA LUMPUR: One of the two foreign airlines that will be operating out of Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah (SAAS) Airport, better known as Subang Airport, is Indonesia's PT TransNusa Aviation Mandiri (TransNusa).
TransNusa group chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Bernard Francis confirmed to Business Times that the airline will start flying out of Subang once the airport is ready for the resumption of narrowbody aircraft operations in August.
"We confirmed that we will operate flights from Subang Airport. We kindly request your patience, and we will provide an announcement as soon as we have details regarding the new route launch," the Malaysian aviation veteran told Business Times.
TransNusa was rebranded as a premium service carrier and became the first airline in Indonesia to launch direct flights from Bali to Manado as well as the second airline in Indonesia to fly to China.
The airline has a mixed fleet of Airbus A320-200 and China's Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd (COMAC) ARJ21-700.
Another foreign airline that will most likely fly to Subang Airport is Singapore's Scoot Pte Ltd, although the carrier has said it is unable to share any further details on its plan to fly to Subang.
"We seek your patience to wait for official announcements from Scoot relating to new route launches," the airline's spokesperson said on Wednesday.
All three Malaysian-based carriers – Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), the parent company of FlyFirefly Sdn Bhd as well as Batik Air Malaysia Sdn Bhd and AirAsia Malaysia, a unit of AirAsia Aviation Group (AAG) - have confirmed that they will be operating narrowbody aircraft out of Subang next month.
MAG said Firefly will initially operate its B737-800 aircraft out of Subang Airport while the group assess its financial performance and make adjustments accordingly as and when needed.
"Firefly has been designated as the vehicle to launch MAG's jet operations at Subang Airport.
"However, financial viability is key for the group and we will continue to rigorously assess all aspects of our operation including the new Firefly jet operations in Subang and will adjust our plan accordingly as and when needed," an MAG spokesperson said.
MAG group managing director Datuk Captain Izham Ismail told Business Times in an interview in May this year that the group was looking to fly to local Malaysian and Asean destinations out of Subang.
Besides the B737-800, Firefly is also operating ATR72-500 turboprop aircraft out of Subang. The carrier has 12 ATRs and three B737-800s in its fleet.
On Wednesday, AAG group chief executive officer (CEO) Bo Lingam confirmed to Business Times that AirAsia will start its twice daily flight service out of Subang to Kota Kinabalu and Kuching beginning 30 August.
He added that the tickets will be open for sale from 23 July. AirAsia will operate its A320 out of SAAS.
Batik Air Malaysia CEO Datuk Chandran Rama Muthy also said the airline will fly its B737 MAX-8 aircraft to domestic destinations from Subang while he hopes that there will be more slots available for the carrier.
Subang Airport operator, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) had confirmed that the 59-year-old airport would see the resumption of jet operations next month as testing and commissioning works called ORAT (Operational Readiness Activation and Transition) are currently being conducted.
SAAS was officially opened on August 30, 1965 and had the longest runway then in Southeast Asia. The resumption of jet operations come 26 years after all narrowbody aircraft operations were moved to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in 1998.
The Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) said six airlines had received approval to operate interim narrowbody aircraft services within four years.
"AirAsia, Batik Air Malaysia, Firefly, SKS Airways Sdn Bhd and two foreign airlines have successfully received approvals for their slots to operate narrowbody aircraft out of Subang Airport during this interim period," Mavcom spokesperson told Business Times.
The interim period will be from August 2024 until 2028.
Mavcom said the slots for the interim jet operations were provided by the National Slot Coordination Malaysia (NSCM) in collaboration with the aviation regulator and the Transport Ministry.
The aviation regulator also said the exact date on the resumption of jet operations will be determined by Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) while the aircraft movement once the resumption service starts is under the purview of the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) and MAHB.
Business Times contacted CAAM for a comment yesterday. The other aviation regulator said it has yet to receive the movement schedule from MAHB.
An announcement on the launch of narrowbody aircraft services and all the airlines that will operate out of Subang Airport is expected to be made in the coming weeks.
