Emirates, one of the world’s most respected airlines, yesterday announced that they would be upping the frequency of flights to Malta to a daily service.
In addition, the airline also said that a new aircraft will be servicing the route, their largest in the fleet – a variant of the Boeing 777 wide body. The airline ruled out operating its soon to be delivered A380s, but the fact that there is now a daily service via Cyprus is very welcome news.
It might have been anticipated, in view of the setting up of SmartCity – but one can only welcome the news.
What people tend to forget is that aside from cargo, Emirates offers not only a passenger route to and from Dubai, but also to Cyprus. The airline has noted that there is good traffic between the two Mediterranean islands – both for business and for pleasure. In fact, they complement each other.
Low cost carriers are very important tools to offer accessibility to Malta – especially insofar as they not only fly from home base, so to speak, but they offer routes into and out of the islands to other destinations.
But we should never forget our legacy carriers. Some of these are in trouble, as seen by Alitalia. While one cannot say that Air Malta is going from strength to strength, it is certainly holding its own in direct competition against power houses such as Ryan Air and, very soon, Easy Jet, who bought the Gatwick to Malta routes. Air Malta has improved in both service and prices and seems to be doing quite well since it diversified its operations.
In fact, it has competed very well considering the losses it was incurring just a couple of years ago.
Emirates first started operations in 1998 and has since gone from strength to strength. The mother company has rewarded the excellent performance of its Malta team by continuing to increase the frequency of flights – hence increasing the number of passengers travelling to and from Malta. Prior to the introduction of low cost carriers, the government was worried that the competition would severely damage Air Malta.
Thankfully, the rescue package which was put together in a bid to get the airline back on its feet worked. Maybe it did not deliver 100 per cent results, but Air Malta is still flying and still carrying the bulk of passengers to Malta.
It is a very fine line that we tread, but it shows that with prudence and forward thinking, this country can really compete. We can attract investment and, strictly speaking, the latest decision by Emirates to increase frequency is indirect foreign investment.
It also has a knock-on effect because it allows tourism and business arrivals from both the UAE and Cyprus. All stakeholders in the tourism industry believe that accessibility is the most important factor to allow growth, a sentiment echoed by parliamentary secretary Mario de Marco. We agree, and we encourage it. But let us be prudent and continue to introduce carriers slowly so as not to flood the market beyond capacity and tip the balance out of favour.
One thing is certain, the move by Emirates is a definite vote of confidence in Malta as a business and tourist destination.