An official delegation from low-cost airline Ryanair is due to come to Malta this week to hold discussions with the government and senior Malta International Airport officials regarding the possibility of low cost flights coming to Malta.

It is not known yet if Ryanair CEO Michael Cawley will be heading the delegation. Mr Cawley has been engaged in a very public spat with MIA officials regarding the conditions that Ryanair expects from MIA if it succeeds in bringing mass tourism to Malta.

MIA contends that its charges are not exceptionally high and that it will be forced to give any concessions it gives to Ryanair to other airlines as well. (See page 4).

MIA had first tried to offer any low cost airline the possibility of establishing routes to and from Malta to three destinations in Spain – Madrid, Barcelona and Gerona – and Lisbon in Portugal.

Then it offered reductions on the Malta – Geneva/Basle route as well.

It is not known whether the Ryanair delegation will be discussing these offers or whether the low cost airline will be expressing its interest in the very lucrative Malta – UK route.

Included in the Ryanair delegations which have come to Malta in recent months, was the Ryanair official for new routes, Roy Berger, who spent his childhood in Malta where his family owned the still famous Haro shops in Sliema. The Hotel Leroy, also in Sliema, is named after Mr Berger and his brother Lee.

Over the last few weeks, Ryanair has announced two new routes from Nantes – to Nottingham and Stansted – and the opening of its 15th base in Europe, in Nottingham. Just before that, it announced two new routes, including one from the city of Derry to Liverpool.

Meanwhile on Thursday, a new air route is to be inaugurated that will link the airport of Trapani-Birgi to Malta and Tunis.

This new venture is the result of an agreement between European 2000 Airlines Ltd and Italian company Airgest, which operates from Trapani.

The new route will have four flights a week initially, two from Trapani to Tunisia and two to that will be used is a Fairchild Metro 23, a turbo with 19 seats and just 300 hours of flight.

Airgest president Gabriele d’Ali said this first step is an important attempt to put Trapani on the map, indispensable in preparation for 2010 when the freedom of the skies comes to the Euro-Mediterranean area.