Malaysia’s Firefly cancels flights to Singapore over haze from Indonesia

Move comes as haze from Indonesian fires makes Singapore and Kuala Lumpur the world’s most polluted cities.Firefly, a Malaysian low-cost airline, has extended the suspension of its flights between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore through Wednesday as smoke from fires in Indonesia continued to blanket the region.The announcement came as IQAir, an air quality monitor, ranked Singapore and the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur as the world’s two most polluted cities on Tuesday.Recommended Stories list of 2 itemslist 1 of 2Central Colombia forest fire threatens tourist town of Villa de Leyvalist 2 of 2‘Nature can recover’: Inside the race to rescue world’s crisis-hit wildlifeend of listFirefly said in a statement that flights between the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (SZB) near Kuala Lumpur and the Seletar Airport in Singapore (XSP) have been cancelled up to Wednesday due to “weather and haze conditions”.It called the action a “proactive safety measure”.The fires, mostly on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo, are the country’s most intense in 11 years. They have been spurred by El Nino, a weather pattern expected to be among the strongest in four decades.IQAir, a Swiss air quality monitoring company, said Air Quality Index in Singapore stood at 199 on Tuesday and 183 in Kuala Lumpur. Readings above 150 are generally considered unhealthy, and those above 300 are classified as hazardous.Firefly, a subsidiary of Malaysia Aviation Group, which includes Malaysia Airlines, first announced the flight cancellations on October 10, citing “low visibility” due to the haze conditions.Firefly said that affected passengers were being rebooked on Malaysia Airlines flights between Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Singapore’s Changi Airport, subject to seat availability.The Singapore government has reintroduced subsidised care for haze-related illnesses, as it last did in 2015, when smoke from Indonesian fires hung over the region for weeks.