“Air Malta is ready to compete against low-cost carriers as long as they compete on a level playing field,” Investment Industry and Information Technology Minister Austin Gatt said yesterday during the launch of the CentreCom, the national carrier’s latest venture.

CentreCom is a call centre set up by Air Malta in the old airport terminal at Luqa. The call centre is a joint venture between Air Malta and World Aviation Systems Limited, Malta (WAS), an Australian general sales agent representing both foreign airlines in Malta, and Air Malta abroad.

Minister Gatt said the reforms embarked upon by the government three-and-a-half years ago, were intended to change the way Air Malta conducts its investments, with emphasis on outsourcing and diminishing costs.

As a result, said the minister, non-operative expenditures have been drastically cut, and the carrier has succeeded in increasing profits from every ticket sold.

Dr Gatt praised Air Malta’s latest marketing campaign, which resulted in the sale of 28,000 tickets, 80 per cent of which were sold abroad.

He stated that this is an encouraging fact that shows that Air Malta does not fear competition.

The minister also spoke about the memorandum of understanding between the unions and the national carrier, which is due to expire next July.

Dr Gatt said that although renewal negotiations were due to start next January, he instructed the Air Malta board of directors to commence negotiations immediately in order to finalise them by the end of March 2007.

The investment minister concluded that Air Malta should embark on an aggressive campaign to sell more while trying to maximise profits from every ticket sold.

Air Malta chairman Lawrence Zammit said the company decided to outsource its operations and venture into new areas in order to survive and prosper. He also analysed the increase in fuel costs which wreaked havoc with the company’s accounts.

WAS chairman Leslie Cassar said the call centre currently offers services in English, Maltese, Italian and Russian.

He said that in the near future, it will expand and offer services in French, German, Swedish and Norwegian. Mr Cassar added that the call centre is furnished with state-of-the-art equipment, and reiterated his company’s commitment to providing the best services to Air Malta.