BritishJet is now in its third year of operations although, according to its competitors, it was not supposed to have survived beyond the first six months.
More than any other airline, it was BritishJet that introduced the low cost concept to Malta: in 2000 it started offering fares to London at Lm49 when its competitors were selling theirs for Lm200.
It pioneered e-ticketing in Malta in 2003 and now all its competitors have followed its initiative. It was also the first airline in the world to offer half-price discount for pre-booked extra luggage.
Robbie Borg, managing director of BritishJet, announced during a media conference that his airline’s 2007 Winter Schedule will include a low cost double destination package, namely London-Malta-Egypt (Sharm-el-Sheik), hopefully this November with other North African destinations to follow. This is aimed at increasing tourist inflow to Malta during the winter months, but is subject to approval by the Maltese and Egyptian authorities.
Mr Borg added that BritishJet is committed to remain unbeatable price-wise, which does not mean that the quality of the airline’s service will suffer in any way. Mr. Borg said: “Unlike our direct competitors, we continue to give our clients hot meals at no extra charge, land at more central airports, thereby saving them considerable time and money by giving them the facility to get to their actual destination by train rather than by taxi and, most importantly, by being the pioneering airline that introduced half-price rates for overweight luggage and yet still offer the most competitive rates in this regard.”
Besides, the airline’s scheduled departure times from Malta are the most convenient in their category, notably by landing at Gatwick at 10am rather than midnight or later in isolated airports.
BritishJet’s alliance with Switzerland’s Hello airline still has a year to run and other destinations will be announced shortly in addition to those currently being serviced, namely Gatwick, Stanstead, Manchester, Birmingham, East Midlands, Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter, Leeds, Newcastle and Glasgow, which practically covers all the UK.
BritishJet now has a new user-friendly website:
www.britishjet.com
Speaking to the media, Mr Borg hinted the airline is considering flights to Libya, possibly from the UK. The airline is also trying to persuade MIA to reduce the high rates it charges. BritishJet pays one third of the Malta rates in the UK airports it uses. It has recently come to an agreement with Air Malta to use the national airline for its ground handling.
As regards the coming tourist season, Mr Borg warned that decreasing hotel rooms and increased flights to Malta may mean overbooking of tourists in July, which will trigger off a negative reaction next year. One other issue that must be solved regards those hotels which took in students when they had room vacancies and the students’ antics drove away the normal guests of the hotels. He also urged the government to allow more building of hotels near the sea, replacing those in built-up areas and urged it to reduce its high induced costs to the industry, such as swimming pool licences, high prices for light heating oil and the like.