The two major low-cost airlines, Ryanair and EasyJet are holding talks with the government following the publication, by the government on 10 April, of a series of incentives to attract more tourists to Malta.
Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech confirmed the talks when he was replying to questions in parliament yesterday.
Replying to Labour MP Joe Cuschieri, the minister said that yesterday morning he had held talks with Ryanair representatives. The talks were requested by the low-cost carrier itself. This was not the first meeting, the minister said, nor will it be the last.
Over the next weeks, he added, he will be having talks with representatives of the local tourism sector who are having talks with EasyJet. A delegation from EasyJet will be visiting Malta next month but next week there will be a meeting, at technical level, with EasyJet representatives in the UK.
It is still too early to say if any of these low-cost carriers will be coming to Malta, the minister warned.
With regard to what are called legacy carriers, that is the scheduled airlines, the ministry held talks with them too. They expressed positive reactions to the government document.
Pressed to say what were the reactions of the legacy carriers and specifically Air Malta to the concessions granted by the government to the low-cost carriers, the minister replied that prior to the publication of the document, many sectors, including Air Malta, had been consulted.
In its document, the government sought to find a balance between the scheduled services and tour operators on the one hand and the low-cost carriers on the other – not an easy task at all. Pressed again by Mr Cuschieri if there was any timeframe for the arrival of low-cost carriers in Malta, the minister refused to give an answer, for this would undermine Malta's position, but said the government hoped that by 2007 the mix of tourists coming to Malta would include low-cost carriers.
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