From Mr C. J. Buttigieg

Very recently, Malta Air Charter’s now suspended services to Gozo were described by a prominent politician as “shameful”.

That service was being maintained with three very reliable MI 8 helicopters during the peak season and two during the lean winter months. During its 10 years of service, Malta Air Charter did not report any serious incident and the helicopters, which carried 26 passengers, each achieved a media of 50,000 passengers per year.

To operate the service, Air Malta subsidised the route by circa Lm150,000 per annum. Malta Air Charter contributed a substantial amount to Air Malta for handling as well as tax on fuel and VAT on passenger tickets to the government. A figure which surpassed the Lm100,000 mark each year.

This meant that although Malta Air Charter was registering those losses and, bearing in mind that Air Malta is wholly owned by the State, the government was, in real terms, less than Lm50,000 out of pocket, which can be converted to a subsidy of Lm1 per passenger holidaying in Gozo. That relative pittance was sustaining a healthy flow of tourists to our sister island.

The inauguration of a new service before the end of March will be operated by “Helicopteros del Sureste”, a Spanish company with one Western European helicopter with a seating configuration of 13 passengers, probably ‘Bell’.

All being well, the service will offer 20 flights per day in summer and eight flights during the months of November through to March.

During the first year, this one helicopter operation will make 1,620 one-way flights with a total seating capacity of 21,060, saving cancellation of flights due to technical and bad weather conditions. Even top of the range Western helicopters are conditioned to fly only during acceptable weather conditions.

With 10 return flights a day, the helicopter will not have a slot longer than four hours to undergo the mandatory daily technical inspections and any required maintenance. In the likely event that a “technical hitch” is found and it requires more than four hours to put right, there will be no alternative other than to suspend the service with the consequential implications of passengers missing their international connecting flights out of Malta International Airport.

Achieving 100 per cent seat factor has never and cannot be reached by any airline in the world. Helicopteros del Sureste has the capacity to carry to Gozo and return 10,530 passengers in one year. It will not however have the capability to get close to that hypothetical figure.

Basing some figures assumed on a competitive fare level and good frequency, the upcoming schedule could attract a healthy 70 per cent seat take up, which represents an average of nine passengers per flight totalling 14,580, thus diminishing the present potential of 50,000 by 35,420 passengers each year.

With an estimated average seat price of Lm20 for a one-way ticket, the whole of the operation will yield Lm291,600 revenue in one year. Hardly the cost to wet lease one Bell Helicopter for the same period and very doubtful whether it is enough to sustain the service profitably.

Having stated the above, it has to be stressed that the quoted figures are based on the positive assumption that the service will attract customers and that the market will absorb the exorbitant price levels of the new structure. Indeed a very positive approach from my side.

With both feet on the ground, it would be foolhardy to predict, at this stage, the extent the fare weighting a ‘Gozo Holiday Package’ can afford. If I were to be presumptious I would hasten to add that the new fare structure is counter productive and will reduce the present traffic potential and, in the absence of a subsidy the life span of this service will be a short one.

Because of my Gozitan roots and my heartfelt desire to see the Gozo tourist industry flourish, I sincerely hope that the figures and my predictions are erroneous. It is however very doubtful. Time will tell.

Charles J. Buttigieg

Ex General Manager

Malta Air Charter