Ryanair to take Malta Seriously

Senior officials from Europe’s largest budget airline, Ryanair, will be in Malta at the beginning of January hoping to close negotiations and add the island to the airline’s ever-growing list of destinations.

Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech confirmed that the airline’s interest in Malta was “very strong”, but could not confirm whether it was a done deal.

“We’re getting clear signals that Ryanair is ready to start operating to Malta, but we still need to iron out a number of issues,” Dr Zammit Dimech said, when contacted.

While most airlines have faced serious problems in the last few years, the Dublin-based airline has become a success story, selling air tickets at give-away prices.

Ryanair’s passenger traffic increased by 24 per cent this year while net income rose to €200 million in the six months to September.

Last week, Ryanair announced that it would fly new routes from Luton to Spain, Denmark, France, Italy, Sweden and Ireland. And to mark the event, the airline gave away 50,000 free seats.

Dr Zammit Dimech admitted that there were some “issues of competitiveness” that needed to be resolved before sealing Ryanair’s service to Malta. The airline is normally able to keep prices low by flying to secondary airports.

“We don’t have this luxury in Malta but we’re trying to do everything possible to find a solution which would suit us both,” Dr Zammit Dimech said.

The minister admitted that the introduction of a low cost airline to Malta could be a godsend to tourism, especially since Ryanair officials have already indicated that they were initially keen to introduce a UK – Malta route. The British market accounts for half of Malta’s tourism product.

However, Dr Zammit Dimech said that all issues would have to be factored in before Ryanair’s service to Malta is secured.

According to airline sources, the government is going out of its way to cushion any impact that any low-cost airline may have on Air Malta, especially after the national airline recently embarked on a restructuring exercise to get back on its feet.

“The government is however fully aware that an airline like Ryanair could boost tourism figures substantially, especially during the leaner months,” the sources said. Though the geographical distance was initially a stumbling block, Ryanair was apparently contemplating linking the Malta route with Sicily and Tunisia to make it more cost-effective.

Will be interesting if they do start, could open up a whole new market to Malta.