On 9 August, Air Malta operated its first flight to Kassel’s new airport in the western German state of Hessen. The special charter flight transported the 140 members of the European youth orchestra from Malta to Kassel as part of its tour.

The new airport, which has been built not far from the site of the original one due to the need to build a longer runway (for topographic reasons, a significant elongation of the runway was not possible), started operations during this year’s summer season with regular holiday flights to Majorca (operated by Germania), Split (Croatia Airlines) and Antalya (Tailwind Airlines), even though a few of the flights to Turkey had to be cancelled due to reduced demand in this testing period.

Kassel airport was originally a small regional airfield with only occasional scheduled domestic flights with smaller aircraft such as the 19-seater Beechcraft 1900 or – as a quite exotic example during the early 1970s – the operation of General Air, using Yakowlev 40s – a very small Soviet regional jet very rarely seen in the West. Then in the 1990s and early 2000s there were some holiday flights to Majorca that could be operated by BAe 146, the predecessor of the Avro RJ series. However, there had been no regular passenger flights since 2005. 

The northern part Hessen is not very densely populated, as is also the case with neighbouring areas of three other states. The most prominent employer in the area is Volkswagen with its Baunatal plant. 

The proximity (about 50 kames) of Paderborn airport to the west in particular in the state of Northrhine-Westfalia, the most populous and politically most powerful of all the federal states, and also the more important Hannover airport of Lower Saxonia and global hub Frankfurt (in central southern Hessen) – both accessible from the northern Hessen area by autobahn and high speed train – with their broader choice of flights and destinations, certainly means a lot of competition. In addition, the catchment area is also partly covered by Erfurt-Bindersleben airport in the neighbouring territory of the former GDR, which by itself is not faring exactly well, not least due to the cessation of the domestic flights offered by Cirrus Air that flew as Lufthansa partner and the restructuring process of Air Berlin, which has also left some traces on the network in Paderborn. The regional airports compete with slogans like “flying from your doorstep” or by offering cheap or free parking, which distinguishes them positively from the larger airports. 

In the case of Air Malta, which in any event is currently restricted as regards scheduled route development in the EU, growing through charter flights in this core market, be it one-off special ones or charter series as traditionally operated, for example, in the UK with routes like Norwich and Exeter, is a way of generating revenue and maybe also preparing markets in the longer term. While one should indeed be a bit sceptical in respect of routes like Kassel, if not operated as ‘triangle’, ie in combination with another small airport, in previous articles I have also pointed the possibility of Paderborn airport with Air Malta or Air Berlin, given that Air Berlin managed to run a twice-weekly service to the small island of Kos in Greece, for example.

Catering update: more authenticity

While one may doubt why a six-pointed cross replacing the traditional eight-pointed one on the aircraft tail, removing the “Air” from the main brand name on the fuselage, and maybe a somewhat too colourful and fine-detailed (only distinguishable from very close up) paint scheme that might in the longer term prove costly to maintain if one wants to keep it looking shiny and proper (UV exposure of large red areas, for example) are supposed to be a step forward in branding, from the point of cabin product Air Malta has been taking some very commendable steps. Apart from the booking process and luggage check-in treatment, it is the in-flight service that is the direct interface between customer and airline product. 

Not jumping at any opportunity to lump up quite a sum as soon as a checked bag is 500 grammes too heavy or hand luggage 3cm too square definitely gives the traveller the assurance of a ‘no hidden tricks’ carrier. 

Air Malta has always maintained a good mix between experienced and younger cabin crew who treat passengers in a respectful way. Uniforms should indeed always be fairly up-to-date – be they elegant classic style, practical or more unconventional, like the epic Southwest Airlines 1970s uniforms signalling that in the low-cost-carrier’s home state of Texas not just the weather may be hot. It depends what kind of carrier image one wants to transmit.

So far one has also kept the seats of the current fleet which were a big improvement on the ones used on the old fleet (this has nothing to do with type, just with what is ordered) and has thankfully not given in to the tempting lighter seats applied by some airlines (also big network carriers) in economy to save some weight which certainly suffice for many very short sectors but can be rather uncomfortable on longer flights. 

Catering is part of an in-flight experience, and even though one should not overestimate it on shorter flights, there are also flight sectors beyond two hours where it might indeed be welcome and necessary. Air Malta has now announced that their catering will now orient itself more on a Maltese identity of the food offered. So one substitutes one catering product that can be found on any airline, with another product of clearly local character, at no or only small extra cost – a local brand identity gain with no cost pain. 

For traditional repeat visitors and Maltese abroad, since the days of boarding Air Malta has always been a ‘pre arrival’ in Malta at the foreign airport, while when leaving Malta, it was still “a part of Malta taken abroad” a bit.  The current in-flight magazine concept is taking up the tradition of the classic Malta This Month, after (having gone backwards in-between), offering Maltese newspapers (a greater variety would always be welcome!) giving visitors some initial useful information, and now the catering with a local character further adds to an experience that helps to differentiate the cabin product as something authentic, something Maltese. 

Especially for smaller flag carriers that only act as point-to-point operator, or network feeder for a specific destination, and maybe as regional hub carrier, such things can set them positively apart. The airlines of Austria and Switzerland have maintained such catering concepts for a long time and Air Malta definitely took a step in the right direction by following in this direction and differentiating from competitors with a more Maltese catering product. And when it comes to the paint scheme, certainly the slogan “The airline of the Maltese Islands” underlines the Maltese identity. And at least, while the eight-pointed cross is partly cut off on the tail, it has been added to the wingtips.