Ryanair, on Sunday launched its Malta summer 2018 schedule with 12 new routes, including three new summer services, with an additional aircraft to be based in Malta next year. Ryanair's 54 routes in total will help deliver 2.5m customers p.a. through Malta Airport next year.
Ryanair's Malta S18 schedule will deliver:
- 5th based aircraft ($500m investment)
- 12 new routes: Aberdeen (2 wkly), Barcelona (4), Bratislava (2), Paris Beauvais (2), Gothenburg (1 wkly), Porto (2), Pescara (2), Seville (2), Tallinn (1 wkly), with Belfast (2 wkly), Naples (2 wkly) andRiga (2 wkly) continuing from the winter.
- More flights to Madrid and Venice Treviso (3 to 4 wkly)
- 54 routes in total
- 2.5m customers p.a. (+700k)
- 1,900 on-site jobs
- 40% passenger growth
Ryanair celebrates a Malta milestone this month, carrying its ten millionth passenger through the airport in September. Maltese customers and visitors can now book their holidays as far out as October 2018, on even lower fares, and enjoy the latest "Always Getting Better" improvements, which include:
- Reduced checked-in bag fees - one €25 fee, one 20kg size
- 20 Air Europa long haul routes from Madrid on sale on Ryanair.com
- Connecting flights at Rome Fiumicino and Milan Bergamo with more airports to follow
- A new partnership with Erasmus Student Network offering discounts and a dedicated booking platform
- Alexa voice recognition to search flights, hotels and flight status on the Ryanair.com website
In Malta, Ryanair's David O'Brien said: "We are pleased to launch Ryanair's Malta summer 2018 schedule, which will be on sale tomorrow, with 54 routes to 18 countries. Ryanair's summer 2018 schedule includes 12 new routes to Aberdeen, Barcelona, Bratislava, Paris Beauvais, Gothenburg, Porto, Pescara, Seville and Tallinn, and our Belfast, Naples and Riga routes which start next month. Ryanair will base a fifth aircraft in Malta next summer, a total investment of $500m. I am also pleased to note that we have started discussions with Air Malta on potential areas of cooperation.
Minister Mizzi welcomes this major expansion by Ryanair after successful discussions with the Ministry for Tourism and the Malta Tourism Authority: Dr Mizzi described this major investment as a vote of confidence in Malta's Tourism Sector. The minister thanked all key stakeholders involved, particularly the Malta Tourism Authority and the Malta International Airport.
Also speaking about Air Malta, Minister Mizzi and Mr O'Brien announced that Air Malta and Ryanair are in discussions about a future collaboration with each other. Ryanair and Air Malta are considering collaboration on sales and marketing initiatives, including leveraging Ryanair's web presence for sales.