British Jet Ltd, Malta’s first low-cost carrier, started operations from Malta on Saturday.

The company’s Boeing MD90, which can carry up to 167 passengers, left Luqa for Leeds on its first scheduled flight at 10am.

The airline will be flying to Gatwick airport once a day, to Manchester airport four times a week and to Leeds, Birmingham and the East Midlands airports once a week. There are plans for the company to invest in another aircraft, but these have been put on hold at present because of the current rise in fuel costs.

A mere Lm16 will buy you a one-way flight, excluding taxes and fuel surcharge. Return flights, including all costs, are available from Lm60.

Speaking during the recent launch of the service, director Robbie Borg said British Jet was promising that its most expensive flights would always be at least Lm5 cheaper than those offered by Air Malta and British Airways.

Through Bargain Holidays, Mr Borg has been attracting British tourists to Malta on chartered flights for over 20 years. The company began operating low-cost flights to and from the UK in 2000. Since then, its client base has grown considerably and now reaches some 110,000 passengers a year.