The Malaysian government has outlined plans to create a new airline called Flymojo.
The carrier will be primarily based out of Johor Bahru in the south of the country, placing it close to the doorsteps of neighbouring country, Singapore. It's secondary hub will be in Kota Kinabalu in the east of Malaysia.
Local media reports suggest it may start operations in October.
Bombardier Commercial Aircraft has also announced that the Malaysian government has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for the purchase of 20 of its CS100 aircraft, along with the option of an additional 20 more.
Should this turn into a firm order, the deal would be valued at approximately US$1.47 billion, and could potentially increase to US$2.94 billion should Flymojo choose to exercise all of its options. It will also make the carrier the first in the region to operate the Bombardier model.
Aziz Kaprawi, Malaysia's deputy minister of transport, said: "With Flymojo's primary hub at Senai International Airport, Johor and secondary hub in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, the airline's ultra-modern fleet of CS100 aircraft will play a key role in improving connectivity between the peninsula and Sabah and Sarawak, as well as other parts of the region.
"In addition, as the only airline utilising the southern corridor as its headquarters, Flymojo will transform Senai into a key regional aviation and logistics hub - augmenting the government's initiatives in developing Iskandar Malaysia and the southern corridor."
While no seating configurations have been revealed, the CS100 is able to accommodate up to 125 people in an all-economy layout.
The announcement follows a difficult year in aviation for Malaysia. National carrier Malaysia Airlines was hit by two tragedies in 2014 – the disappearance of flight MH370 in March and the shootdown of MH17 over Ukraine. And Air Asia flight QZ8501 crashed into the Java Sea in late December.
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Graham Smith
