Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow hailed the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Penang Convention & Exhibition Bureau (PCEB) and Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) as another huge breakthrough for tourism and business events here.
Chow was speaking at the MOU signing ceremony which was held in Komtar, which will see PCEB collaborate with MAG to ensure that Penang is the preferred destination for tourism and business events.
Present was State Exco for Tourism and Creative Economy, YB Yeoh Soon Hin, PCEB chief executive officer Ashwin Gunasekeran, Group CEO of MAG, Captain Izham Ismail, CEO of Firefly, Phillip See , Group Communication Head of Malaysia Airlines, Khairunnisak Dzun Nurin, Global Sales Head of Malaysia Airlines, Roslan Ismail among others.
“Despite the suspension of international travel and restriction on business events, Penang hosted 156 events with a total of 19,283 attendees and funded a total of nine business events in 2020, resulting in an estimated economic impact of RM38.853 million.
“As such, having our national carrier as our continuous strategic partner since 2018 is indeed in the right path for Penang to rocket forward in obtaining new business,” said Chow.
He also thanked Malaysia Airlines for making Penang as the country’s second international hub.
Meanwhile, Izham added that Penang is their main hub for the Northern Region.
“Presently, we have direct flights to Kuching and Kota Kinabalu. Come April 11, 2022 Firefly will fly directly to Johor Bahru. We are also talking to Qatar Airlines to fly to Penang,” he added.
“To this regard, our vision is for Firefly to have its hub in Penang and connect ASEAN and Asia Pacific countries by 2023.
“We hope to base 10 aircrafts at the Penang International Airport (PIA). In the meantime, we also call on the federal government to allow direct flights from Singapore to Penang in the near future,” added Izham.
In concluding, he stressed support for PCEB to offer support and connectivity with exclusive packages for business related travellers with more perks.