Malta will be connected to ten new airports in Europe as of next summer, Ryanair announced on Tuesday.
Starting as of summer 2019, travellers will have the opportunity to fly into Cardiff and Exeter airports in the UK, Lamezia and Perugia in Italy, Nantes in France, Thessaloniki in Greece, Cork in Ireland, Maastricht in the Netherlands, Oslo Torp in Norway and also Luxembourg.
The routes to Norway and Luxembourg will be the first that Ryanair will be operating to these countries from Malta.
The addition of these routes means that Ryanair now operates 61 routes out of Malta, and it also means that another aircraft from their fleet will be based on the island. This brings the tally of Ryanair aircraft based in Malta up to six. The new aircraft equates to €100 million in investment.
Ryanair's David O'Brien said that the addition of these routes means that Malta now has more European connections than Heathrow airport in London, and predicted that Ryanair's summer schedule for 2019 will deliver 3.1 million customers to Malta.
The executive chairman of the Malta Tourism Authority Gavin Gulia meanwhile said that the new routes complement the Authority's strategy of connecting Malta to as many destinations as possible. Gulia said that the routes connect Malta to previously unconnected cities and that this opens up new opportunities for Malta and the Maltese.
Gulia also added that most of the new routes are from destinations which fit the target profile of tourists to Malta, namely urban residents seeking Mediterranean coastal destinations with a rich cultural offering.
Ryanair also announced that in celebration of this news, seats will be released for sale for prices as low as €14.99 for travel from September to October 2018, which are available for booking up to Thursday 13th September at midnight.