Air Malta will start operating a twice weekly scheduled service to the enchanting French town of Tarbes / Lourdes every Monday and Friday during summer as from the 29th June 2018.

The new route was announced yesterday by Air Malta's Chairman Dr Charles Mangion during the opening of AMITEX, the yearly travel fair organised at MFCC.

"Today we are launching yet another scheduled service - our 15th new route to Tarbes / Lourdes in France. We started operating to this French town as a charter destination in March 1988, exactly 30 years ago, and have operated this route incessantly as a charter service throughout these years. We are thus celebrating this important anniversary by offering this route as a scheduled service this summer in cooperation with our partner Britannia Travel", announced Dr Mangion.

Mr Paul Sies, Air Malta's Chief Commercial Officer added, "Tarbes Lourdes is a very sought after and known destination and regarded as place of worship and pilgrimage, however it has much more to offer like a gateway to the Pyrenees, it's not too far from Toulouse and possibly even more interesting is that it is a gateway to the North of Spain. For the past 30 years we have carried an average of around 6,000 passengers each year to and from Lourdes on our charter services and the change to a scheduled one is intended to increase this traffic especially since it has some good connections to other Air Malta destinations like Catania which will bring us a step further in the connect model we are building.

Our Lourdes service is another step towards a successful growth strategy which certainly marks an important milestone for Air Malta. Air Malta's Commercial Team is working very hard to make this growth possible and we are confident that the current plans and projections will bear fruit by increasing travel connectivity to the islands and generating new inbound travel." Minister of Tourism Konrad Mizzi added, "Religious Tourism is one of the growing trends in travel and tourism. I am happy to note that Air Malta is now in a position to offer this route as a scheduled service. This is a welcome addition to Air Malta's flight schedule and I look forward to see the airline secure more business and seek more opportunities to ensure further successes in order to be Airline of the Mediterranean."

The flight schedule will operate as follows (all times local): Monday and Friday