Firefly (FY, Penang) has inducted its first B737-800 ahead of its launch of narrowbody scheduled operations on April 11, 2022.
9M-MLH (msn 31723) operated its last flight for Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur International) on February 5, 2022 and then underwent maintenance and repainting at Kuala Lumpur International airport and began proving flights for Firefly on March 22.
Firefly will require two B737-800s to operate its initial schedule and a third to ramp-up frequencies from April 25. The airline will base its Boeing narrowbodies out of Penang and serve domestic routes to Johor Bahru, Kuching, and Kota Kinabalu.
The airline currently operates twelve ATR72-500s out of Kuala Lumpur Subang and Penang. It initially tried to enter the narrowbody market with three B737-800s, all transferred from Malaysia Airlines (other than 9M-MLH), in May 2021 but deferred the move after just three flights due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
