Increased confidence has been expressed by Community airline Firefly, which launched its Subang-Singapore flight this week, regarding the growth from all its routes to Singapore, based on a 70 to 75 percent load factor target set for each route.

According to managing Eddy Leong, the company is not projecting extraordinary profit or unusually high growth this year. He said that he was sure it would be in line with what has been planned for.

At a press conference alongside the launch of Firefly's flight from Subang to Singapore Friday, he said: "And it's a positive number and I think the fact that we are being allowed to continue taking new aircraft next year is a strong sign of how strong our business model is."

An increase in the frequency to six by end of this year, due to the encouraging response, has been planned by the airline, which has four daily flights to Singapore.

Leong said: "Sometimes it's good to operate routes that people don't do. We like this kind of route."

The main focus of Firefly, which is a wholly -owned subsidiary of Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS), would be on widening the frequency of existing routes rather than looking for new routes.

The airline is mulling over the unveiling of Ipoh, Kuala Terengganu and Kuantan to Singapore routes later this month. These would be followed by Melaka in September and Alor Setar and Kota Baharu in October.

Leong said that the code-share partnership with MAS could help the airline to further strengthen its position in the lucrative Malaysia-Singapore route.

He concluded, "International travelers, be it business or leisure from all states in Malaysia, will now have the convenience of point-to-point connection into Singapore."