With great interest I read the article regarding Germanwings (TMID, 17 April).

However, I was puzzled how one defined Cologne as a “new region” in Germany with regard to a Malta link. Germanwings replaced the traditional Air Malta summer run from Cologne that had existed since the deep 1980s, interrupted only by some German charter carriers that all ceased operations meanwhile (Aero Lloyd, Britannia Deutschland, FlyFTI).

Düsseldorf, today a core Air Malta route, is just 20 minutes of leisurely autobahn driving (30-40kms) north. Frankfurt is just over an hour of autobahn or some 50 mins of ICE high-speed train down south.

Germanwings is certainly free to operate but this is not a new area.

Stuttgart

Instead of replacing Air Malta in Hamburg and Berlin with Germanwings, one should encourage a capacity increase for Stuttgart. For me it was always puzzling when Air Malta flew to Hamburg, Berlin or Dresden but not Stuttgart. Stuttgart has a catchment area of highest spending power, and for the airline has way lower trip costs. Simplified, due to the comparative proximity to Malta, one saves almost one flying hour each way compared to Hamburg, at better revenue.

With Germanwings positive about that route, why not encourage them to increase capacity here, instead of paying money (why otherwise is Germanwings wanting “negotiations” with the government? With no subsidy just send a handling request to MIA!) for a replacement?

Stuttgart might see three (winter) to four (summer) runs a week.

Paderborn

A once-weekly service from Paderborn, a very ‘Catholic’ place that already has partnerships with Malta, is an addition. It is some 190kms off Cologne and Düsseldorf and additionally covers areas even further away from there. Paderborn is a long-time base of low-cost giant Air Berlin, or maybe a niche market for Air Malta.

Leipzig

A Ryanair flight (twice, eventually later three times weekly) from Leipzig-Altenburg is missing. The catchment area covers the states of Saxony, Thuringia and the southern part of Sachsen-Anhalt, those ex-GDR regions that have progressed. AMD, Volkswagen, Porsche, BMW, Jenoptik, Carl Zeiss etc. are manufacturing and hence creating income there. Altenburg saw some Air Malta charters in the Avro days.

Alternatively, Air Malta could run from Leipzig-Halle, but Altenburg (derelict Soviet air base) is more centrally located regarding the desired catchment area, even though public transport requires improvement. No other flights would be damaged. Leipzig saw on-again off-again seasonal charters with Air Malta and Hamburg International.

Düsseldorf

Air Malta’s Düsseldorf run should also be marketed as code-share with Lufthansa, just like Frankfurt and Munich.

Luxembourg

Luxair’s Luxembourg run should go as code-share with Air Malta and encouraged to be upgraded to Boeing 737 (Luxair) or Airbus A319 (Air Malta), or Air Malta A320s. With A320s it could be combined with another airport: half an A320 as a balance between the current Embraer’s 50 and the A319’s 140 seats. One might even develop a twice weekly

run, hence with more attractive frequency. Air Malta can combine it with a flight from the wider area (a run from Düsseldorf, Paderborn?). An option might eventually be Luxair’s new Bombardier Q400 80-seaters, running at significantly lower unit costs than the current plane.

Even if Air Malta runs, a marketing agreement with Luxair is a must. They sell Malta through their in-house tour operator in Luxembourg and the neighbouring areas of Germany and France, and started the route in not easy circumstances, deserving respect.

Replacement danger

A subsidized Ryanair flight from Hahn should prove bad for: - Germanwings in Cologne; - Air Malta and Lufthansa in Frankfurt; - Luxair in Luxembourg; - Air Malta in Düsseldorf; - Germanwings in Stuttgart.

The Luxembourg run should be dead immediately. This means losing a connection to the Metz, Nancy and Verdun areas in France which are too far from Hahn, Paris or Brussels.

Hahn and Stuttgart have a catchment area congruency regards the Ludwigshafen/Heildelberg/Mannheim area, for which Germanwings already has to fight against Air Malta’s low-fare flights from Frankfurt International.

Hahn has basically no own immediate catchment area. The area is one of the least densely populated areas in whole western Germany, a positive thing when it was still a noisy US fighter base. Today it partly lives on passengers drawn away from neighbouring airports, dampening growth there or even replacing services.

Ryanair and Hahn proved a plus for places so far not linked from neighbouring airports (e.g. Kerry or Santiago de Compostela) or where flights replaced tiring overland trips (e.g. northern Italy). These places became more accessible which created additional demand. But for parallels it can be a replacement. Routes formerly operated e.g. from

Frankfurt with 140-280-seaters (from B737s way up via B757s to the A300

‘Kont Schaufel’ (‘continental shovel’, Lufthansa’s nickname for this high-volume euro route jet) sometimes ceased or got downsized to gas-guzzling 50-seater regional jets operating as feeder, at higher point-to-point fares than before for those without choice. This cannot be the perspective.

A necessarily subsidized Ryanair flight from Düsseldorf-Weeze should negatively affect, due to congruent catchment areas, these links, in descending order of impact: - Air Malta in Düsseldorf International; - Germanwings in Cologne; - Air Malta and Transavia (a low-cost carrier which mysteriously always remains unmentioned in Malta) in Amsterdam; - Air Malta (and sometimes TUI Airlines Belgium) in Brussels.

Ryanair flight from Bremen should affect: - Air Malta in Hamburg; - Air Malta in Düsseldorf; - Air Malta and Transavia (a low-cost carrier which mysteriously always remains unmentioned while operating since ages, formerly as charter airline) in Amsterdam - Germanwings in Cologne Ryanair from Karlsruhe should hit: - Germanwings in Stuttgart; - Air Malta/Lufthansa in Frankfurt; - Air Malta (charter) in Basel.

Always remember the fast ground infrastructure making distances relative, and geographical distribution of population.

But again: no problem for a Ryanair link from Leipzig-Altenburg!

It is positive that at least the MHRA agrees that core routes should not be replaced. As Air Malta core routes for Germany one can definitely define Frankfurt, Düsseldorf and Munich. Hamburg and Berlin are now, after a long time of investment, thankfully apparently getting more stable. Air Malta should be allowed to reap the fruits of their

efforts. They are number one carrier regards promotion of Malta and keep routes open also in difficult periods. While it is a free market and everybody can operate as many flights as he likes, one should at least not pay money to make sure that certain carriers damage Air Malta on purpose.

Germanwings had incomparably lower financial demands than Ryanair, it seems.

Trying to kick Air Malta and Germanwings out only to appease the local Ryanair fans is the wrong signal also to other LCCs interested in Malta.

Summing up, suggested improvements for the German market are:

- increasing Stuttgart capacity with Germanwings;

- a Ryanair link from Leipzig-Altenburg (preferably), alternatively Air Malta or Hamburg International (charter) from Leipzig-Halle;

- Air Malta’s Düsseldorf run becoming a code-share with Lufthansa;

- linking Paderborn once-weekly during summer (Air Berlin or Air Malta);

- Air Malta and Luxair jointly improving the Luxembourg route.

If there are the opportunities, why not take them? All involved parties might surely be happy with the above.

Matthias A. Merzhäuser

Mudersbach

Germany