EDDY Leong, CEO of Firefly and COO of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) shorthaul operations, submitted his letter of resignation yesterday.

Leong, responsible for Firefly’s turboprop operations and the new shorthaul division of MAS, is reportedly working out a date he can leave after handing over his duties.

He becomes the fourth MAS senior executive to resign in recent times, after senior general manager of marketing Bernard Francis in July, managing director Tengku Azmil Zahruddin on August 9, and CFO Mohd Azha Abdul Jalil earlier this month.

Reasons for Leong's resignation are unclear at press time.

Firefly had been on aggressive expansion mode right up to the point when MAS and AirAsia signed a comprehensive collaboration framework on August 9.

The expansion strategy included plans to launch new domestic and regional routes, taking over selected routes from MAS, and sourcing for new destinations.

Developments that have subsequently taken place instead, are Firefly’s dropping of its Johor Bahru hub, and the handing over of its jet operations to MAS.