Loke Firefly To Resume Singapore Flights Once Regulatory Issues Sorted

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Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah and Transport Minister Anthony Loke holding up the newly-launched KTM Xtra20 discount card. - BernamaKUALA LUMPUR: An official announcement will be made soon to decide whether Firefly will resume its services to Singapore, says Transport Minister Anthony Loke
"The official announcement will be made soon
"We are still finalising the details. We hope they can resume their services soon," he told reporters at the official launch of Xtra20 KTM discount card here Sunday (March 31)
It was reported earlier that the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said Firefly had suspended all its flights to Singapore as it had yet to receive approval from the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) to operate at Seletar Airport
A CAAS spokesman said it had informed the Malaysian Transport Ministry and Firefly back in 2014 of the relocation of turboprop flights from Changi Airport to Seletar Airport, and the airline had agreed to relocate
Firely, a subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, said its services would resume once the relevant authorities sorted out regulatory issues regarding its move to Seletar
On a separate matter, Loke gave his commitment that the government was willing to amend current laws to allow people with special disabilities (OKU) to apply for Public Service Vehicle (PSV) licences so that they could register for and provide e-hailing services. "There are some issues with OKU drivers. They need to understand that current regulations do not allow them to apply for PSV license
"But I have given my commitment to the OKU community, as well as e-hailing companies, that the government will amend the regulations to enable them to provide their services
"My message to the OKU community is that we support their right to be e-hailing drivers so they can work and get an income, so there is no issue of not allowing them
"That will be sorted out soon," he said
On the KTM card, he said the government had allocated a total of RM34mil for the Xtra20 discount card aimed at giving an additional 20% discount for Malaysians who use the cashless transaction system at commuter stations
"We target that there will be a 20% increase in commuters this year, which is about 90,000 users daily to 108,000
"This will be followed by another 20% in 2020 to achieve the target of 130,000 people daily," he said
Loke said following a review of KTM ticket costs in the Klang Valley of between 11 sen to 15 sen per km in 2016 by the previous government, the number of users dropped from 50 million a year to 41 million users in 2017
"In 2017, it continued to dip to 37 million users a year and dropped down to 32 million users annually last year," he said.- Star

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