A Spanish low-cost carrier is likely to join the other three which will be operating to Malta in summer.

Talks are being held with Click Air, a Catalan low-cost airline which, if successful, would link Malta International Airport with El Prat airport in Barcelona. Click Air is part-owned by Iberia Lineas Aereas airlines.

If the talks were to materialise, the Spanish carrier will start operating some time in June, joining Italian low-cost carrier Meridiana and Irish carrier Ryanair, which already operate to Malta. Towards the end of the month, Germany’s low-cost carrier Germanwings will start flights from Cologne and Stuttgart.

If a deal is concluded with Click Air, the airline would not be operating under the scheme offered by Malta International Airport in October to entice other low-cost carriers from Spain, Sweden, Norway and Poland. That scheme failed to draw any applicants.

Under the scheme, MIA was offering a discount of up to 50 per cent on its passenger service fees and landing charges.

Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech had said that market-testing with potential operators had shown a good level of interest in the four countries, but no applications materialised.