Today we will be flying Firefly from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur,
but I assure you, this isn’t Changi. We’ll talk about this airport,
the airline and explore the full experience, so let’s get into it. Welcome to Singapore.
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out the description below and if you’re new here, hi there and welcome, my name is Kevin.
You’ve found yourself on a channel that takes unbiased travel content seriously. I
make airline trip reports, high end hotel reviews and cruise ship tours as well.
I always film without the company’s knowledge to be sure I get a true
experience and give you nothing more than my honest unbiased opinion.
Ok, so secret might be a bit of a stretch, but certainly this is not the airport that
anyone is thinking about when you mention you’re flying from Singapore.
Seletar Airport is on the north coast of Singapore,
around a 20 minute drive from anywhere in the downtown Core or Orchard Road areas.
Two things will surprise you about this airport. First,
it’s surprisingly modern and feels very Changi-esque. Second, it is tiny. I mean
teeny tiny. In fact, congratulations, you’ve already toured all of the pre-security areas.
Our airline today, Firefly, is the only airline that operates out of this airport flying to
Kuala Lumpur’s own secret, but less secret, airport of sorts a handful of times per day.
Check in and security will only open two hours before departure though so seriously, do not get
here early. I’d say 60 minutes before departure would be fine, if you want to play it safe.
The airport was originally opened in 1928 as a British Royal Air Force base and was
turned over to Singapore in 1971. Today, the airport is used primarily for chartered
flights or private aircraft, with the apron sporting a pair of Las Vegas Sands 737s today.
Firefly is one of two regional arms of Malaysian Airlines, the other being MASWings. Firefly has
hubs in Kuala Lumpur Subang and Penang with a renewed focus on Kota Kinabalu
and Malaysian Borneo in general. Since their first flight in 2007,
they’ve expanded to their current 17 destinations across four countries with a fleet of 9 ATR
turboprops and five 737 hand me downs which they just brought into service last year.
Since they are the only airline from this airport currently,
that means they’re also the only airline serving both of Singapore’s airports, flying from Changi
to Penang. As
we watch our inbound aircraft, let’s take a look at today’s flight stats.
We’d end up taking of one minute early and head up to just 14000
feet, flying at 265 knots for 55 minutes, landing in KL 26 minutes early.
Boarding began and it was more than pleasant with just a short walk to our 14 year old
ATR. Can’t imagine this would be all that pleasant during a downpour though, wondering
if they have walkway covers. Filming anonymously- as in, no invitations,
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As is standard with an ATR we boarded through the rear and I made my way to today’s seat 6A.
Certainly it’s up to each airline, but across the board ATRs are rarely
known for their spaciousness and today is no exception, with a pretty tight configuration.
There were however, individual air vents.
Along with a limited selection of buy on board items.
We pushed back as the manual safety demonstration was performed and, since we were the only active
aircraft at the airport, we made our way to the departure runway pretty quickly.
The island nation of Singapore. As you may know, Changi is over here and
Seletar is just up here to the northwest. We’d be taking off to the northeast and
almost immediately cross into Malaysia. The spool up and take off are coming up next.
We made our way up to the northwest, the same corridor flown by around 40
daily flights between the city pairs. Just after reaching altitude, a quick snack service began.
We were given bottles of water as well as small bags of peanuts and cookies.
No complaints about cookies.
The cloud cover became a bit thicker as we approached Kuala Lumpur.
Similarly, you are likely familiar with KLIA located to the south of the city,
with Subang located to the north.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a commercial airport with pavers on the apron before.
So, here are my mixed thoughts. In terms of efficiency, this really can’t be beat.
20 Minutes from Singapore’s Core is nice, but the really nice part is not
having to drive 65km from KLIA to the city. Combine that with the ability to arrive just
an hour or less before departure and it is an attractive package.
That said, it is certainly not the most comfortable package. Obviously for a short flight,
it doesn't really matter, but if you enjoy flying for the full experience of it all,
then you’ll likely enjoy spending some time at Changi before your flight a bit more.
Was also nice to at least have a predictable immigration queue at Subang,
compared to KLIA which always seems to be either three minutes or an hour to enter the country.
I really hope you enjoyed this quick video today, if you did,
please be sure to give this video a like and subscribe with notifications on so you don’t
miss out on any trip reports similar to this in the future. I’ll see you next time from Kuala
Lumpur to Manila in Philippine Airlines’ business class. Oh and thanks for watching until the end.