For the sixth consecutive month, Air Malta has continued to register strong passenger figures.

From August 2007 to January 2008 the airline carried almost 40,000 more passengers (+5.4 per cent) on its scheduled routes from its Malta base compared with the same period the previous year. Overall (including 5th Freedom traffic – ie flights not originating from Malta) Air Malta registered 60,000 passengers (+9 per cent) over the same period last year.

In January 2008 alone, the airline registered an overall increase of over 11,000 passengers (+15.5 per cent). The number of passengers on the Malta-based routes rose by over 8,000 (+12 per cent). Compared with January 2007, last month Air Malta carried eight per cent more passengers on the UK routes, 29 per cent more on the Italy routes, 36 per cent more on the France routes, 45 per cent more on the Germany routes and 34 per cent more on the Switzerland routes.

Statistics issued by Malta International Airport last week for January 2008 (http://www.maltairport.com/page.asp?p=5877&l=1) reveal that on specific routes operated solely by Air Malta, the Maltese airline carried 14,075 (+32.9 per cent) passengers on London Heathrow, 10,944 (+21 per cent) passengers on Frankfurt, and 5,339 (+72.3 per cent) passengers on Munich (the latter two flights are code-shared with Lufthansa). Other Air Malta routes also registered significant increases.

Preliminary trends also show that this month (February 2008), Air Malta will be carrying 12 per cent more passengers over the same month last year.

Commenting on these results, Air Malta chief executive officer Joe Cappello said: “These increased traffic figures are the result of a number of commercial initiatives undertaken by the airline in recent years. We have reorganised our Commercial Division, including a reorganisation of our outstation offices, enhanced our distribution tools, invested heavily in revenue management systems, set up an e-business function and launched a new portal with a new internet booking engine. These initiatives were coupled with aggressive marketing communications campaigns abroad that have focused on the short break market segment and the ‘extension’ of the traditional summer season to the off-peak shoulder months. The airline has also increased its marketing efforts targeting ‘individual’ traffic and promoted the simplicity and transparency of our competitive pricing and absence of hidden charges when booking on-line.

“Air Malta’s total advertising spent on its core markets of the UK, Germany, Italy and France during the last year has been of around €2.8million. Together with the support of the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA), the airline commissioned TV spots, various adverts on print media, billboards, and adverts on popular internal web portals”, he continued.

“Both Air Malta and the MTA are working closely together to continue improving this positive trend. These traffic results are excellent news, not only for Air Malta and Malta but also for all the local tourism stakeholders who are benefiting from the increased tourism arrival figures,” added Mr Cappello.

In the UK, Air Malta launched a major advertising campaign: the Malta Break Escape. The campaign presented an unbeatable travel offer with prices starting from £69.00 return (includes taxes and charges). Two television campaigns on Sky News for a total of 12 weeks were booked, including banner advertising on the popular Sky News portal.

Extensive print media campaigns were carried in London and provincial daily newspapers, including full page colour advertisements in The Times of London, board advertising at Everton Football Club’s Goodison Park Stadium and Liverpool FC’s Anfield Road Stadium, in the Metro Gazette, which is distributed free of charge on the London Underground and poster ads in London Underground trains. Similar campaigns were carried out in the major Italian cities of Milan, Bologna, Rome and Catania, in Paris and in the German cities of Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich.

However, despite these positive traffic figures, which show that Air Malta is well on the road to recovery, the airline is still facing financial challenges. The recent spikes in fuel prices, coupled with ferocious price competition on several routes, has made the industry more fragile and more has to be done to achieve economic viability for the airline, Mr Cappello concluded.