JOHOR BARU, Sept 15 — Johor is confident of achieving 3.5 million tourist arrivals with the introduction of the new Johor Baru-Ipoh route by Firefly Sdn Bhd beginning today.
State Domestic Trade, Consumerism and Tourism Committee Chairman Datuk Tee Siew Kiong said the new route was expected to help boost the number of tourist arrivals to the state from 3.1 million recorded last year.
“I am confident tourist attractions such as Legoland Theme Park, Hello Kitty Town and Johor Premium Outlet, and other tourism products will be able to draw more domestic tourists from Perak to Johor,” he said to reporters at the Senai International Airport (LTAS) near here today.
Tee said this prior to welcoming the arrival of 62 passengers from Ipoh on board the Firefly flight at the passenger arrival hall in LTAS here.
To further empower the tourism sector in Johor, he said the state government would collaborate with airline companies which have direct flights to the state to organise tourism expositions.
For example, the cooperation with Firefly will involve expos in the Federal Territory, Perak and Kelantan.
Johor also welcomes the readiness of the national airline company and Asean countries to launch direct flights besides chartered flights from the main cities nationwide to Johor.
The JB-Ipoh flight, which uses the ATR 72-500 aircraft that can accommodate 72 passengers, is available four times a week — today, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
The flight, which will take one hour and 25 minutes, will depart from LTAS to Ipoh at 10.20 am, and depart from Ipoh to LTAS at 12.05 pm on the same day.
With the introduction of the new route, Firefly is offering the JB-Ipoh flight at RM59 one way, with sales starting from today until September 28 for flights beginning from today till October 24. — Bernama
