Investment, Economy and Finance Minister Tonio Fenech yesterday confirmed that the legal notice abolishing the departure will be issued next week meaning Maltese passengers will no longer have to pay it from 1 November.

During a press conference held after a visit to Air Malta offices during which he met the new board members, Mr Fenech said that the e23/Lm10 departure tax, which had been introduced in 1997 under a Labour government, will be removed.

The minister said that the government is implementing an electoral promise.

He explained that the departure tax will be removed in November for two reasons. Firstly because new fares and holiday bundles will be offered during that period and it did not make sense to introduce it earlier.

Secondly, thanks to the government’s sound financial policy and the country’s stable economy, “unneeded” taxes can be removed.

Referring to the initiated EU infringement procedures against Malta over the departure tax, Mr Fenech said the government did not agree with the EU’s stance and pointed out that the tax certainly did not hold back the Maltese from going abroad.

He spoke about Air Malta’s strategic role – a role that was always fundamental for the country’s economy.

The airline achieved excellent results this year – there was a 14 per cent increase in the number of passengers, amounting to around 60,000 extra passengers, between April and June.

In June, Air Malta registered the highest increase ever with an increase of 30 per cent over June last year amounting to around 40,000 more passengers.

Mr Fenech said that these figures are the result of a number of initiatives, including internal reorganisation, investment in e-business systems and an international call centre, a new portal and an aggressive marketing campaign around Europe.

These results have been achieved in the light of the challenges the airline faced – mainly caused by the ever increasing international price of oil. During the period 2007 and 2008, the airline spent an extra e30 million on fuel, with the surcharge only covering 15 per cent of the cost.