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70 | FireFlyz
Impromptu
N
etwork
plays a
central role in Firefly
as all the operations
are centred on the
schedules. Caro-
line’s job is to work
closely with various
operating departments from Flight Opera-
tions, Engineering, Ground Operations,
Inflight Services and Sales and Revenue
Management in the airline’s bi-annual
production of the operating pattern for
summer and winter.
The Role
“Before each season, slots at various
domestic and regional airports have to be
negotiated and secured at the bi-annual
IATA Slot Coordination Conference. To
implement the seasonal schedules, appli-
cation for landing and overflight approval
has to be submitted to the aeronautical
authorities of the various domestic and
Another scope of our responsibility is in
the planning andmounting of extra flights
to supplement capacity for the scheduled
flights during peak periods to meet the
demand during school holidays and festive
seasons. The planning of charter flights for
the Prime Minister Office, PDRM (Polis
Di-Raja Malaysia) and other corporate
and personal charters also falls under our
responsibility.
Proper and timely planning are es-
sential to the above activities to ensure
deadlines aremet. The job demands a high
standard of accuracy which is mandatory
in every aspect of planning; any oversight
may prove to be very costly.”
The Experience
“This is my 8
th
year with Firefly. I started
as part of the cabin crew for Singapore
Airlines and later moved to Malaysia
Airlines serving the international routes
before I decided to get grounded after
14 years of flying. I joined the Ground
Operations to manage the First Class
Express Check-in counters, and later
moved on to Technical Cost Accounting
where I was involved in the billing of
aircraft purchases, interline billings from
Right On Schedule
In the airline industry, proper time planning is crucial.
Caroline Tang explains her role and responsibility as
Manager of Network and Scheduling.
regional countries to which we operate
and overfly their airspace. The network
department monitors all such applications
to ensure that approvals are received prior
commencement of the season; failure
to receive timely approval will impede
operation of flights into a particular
station. If an overflight application is
rejected from a particular country, that
particular flight will be required to adopt
an alternative flight path which is deemed
longer and will increase fuel consumption
and entail higher cost.
We undertake mid-season revision
and ad-hoc changes to the schedules
arising from introduction of new services,
suspension of underperforming flights,
scheduled/unscheduled maintenance
on aircraft and airport/airspace closure
at particular stations due to Air Defence
exercise, Acrobatic Displays, annual LIMA
(Langkawi International Maritime Exhibi-
tion) and many more.