Firefly (FY, Penang) will launch flights to Singapore Seletar on April 21, 2019, following an agreement between the Malaysian and Singaporean authorities over the use of the airport.
"Singapore and Malaysia have agreed that in the spirit of bilateral cooperation, Singapore will withdraw the Instrument Landing System (ILS) procedures for Seletar Airport and Malaysia will indefinitely suspend its permanent Restricted Area (RA) over Pasir Gudang," the ministers of transport of the two countries said in a joint statement.
Firefly initially planned to relocate from Singapore Changi to Seletar in early December 2018. However, its plan hit a roadblock when the Malaysian government claimed that the newly established ILS approach procedures for Seletar would impact the activities of a Malaysian port and industrial zone at Pasir Gudang, located across the Johor Strait.
As such, the airport remained closed to commercial operations. Firefly already lost its slots at Changi, where it was the only turboprop operator, and for nearly half a year has not flown to Singapore at all.
The Malaysian regional specialist plans to operate to Seletar from Ipoh, Sibiu, and Kuantan using ATR72-500 turboprops.
Malindo Air (Kuala Lumpur International) is also interested in launching services to Seletar, Singaporean Transport Minister Anthony Loke said during a press conference.
The two ministers have also agreed to work together to develop GPS-based approach procedures for Seletar.
Seletar has not seen any scheduled services since 2010. It is currently used for general aviation, flight training, and charter operations. It also hosts maintenance bases and is home to a Rolls-Royce assembly plant. As a part of a plan to relieve congestion at Changi, the secondary airport got a new SGD80 million dollar (USD59.1 million) passenger terminal able to handle 700,000 passengers per annum.
