Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis said today that the national carrier’s losses for the financial year ending this month will be as forecast, that of 15 million euros, and the amount will not be exceeded.
“For 2015, Air Malta is in line with the forecasts announced during the last annual general meeting,” he said, meaning that the targets agreed with the EU would now have to be met by March next year.
He was speaking during a business breakfast held this morning at the MFCC, Ta Qali with the theme being ‘The Importance of Air Connectivity to Tour Operators’ – which was partly organised to promote the travel fair, known as Amitex. When the discussion was over, the minister officially opened the fair.
Dr Zammit Lewis said that this year Air Malta will be celebrating an important milestone, reaching the 50 million passenger mark.
“Despite the fact that Malta lost one of its lucrative routes – Libya – Air Malta still managed to register marked improvements in its performance,” he said, but added that there’s a lot of work to be done to continue achieving results.
“We now have a highly competent management team in place which is filling the void the previous management left behind.
Turning to the ‘baguette’ deal, which led Air Malta to choose not to serve any hot meals to economy-class passengers, Dr Zammit Lewis said that nine million euros will be saved over the next 27 months as a result of such a measure.
Philip Micallef, chief executive officer, Air Malta said that the national carrier started organising the fair in 1994. Now in its 22nd year, the fair has established itself as one of the most important exhibitions on our islands.
Turning to Air Malta’s summer schedule, he said that the airline will be operating a schedule of 160 flights per week to 51 destinations, 28 of these routes are scheduled services, whereas 23 are chartered flights.
With this schedule, he continued, Air Malta plans to carry 1.2 million passengers.
“The most important changes this summer are the increase in flights to Amsterdam whereby the airline will be operating daily to this city."
For the first time, Air Malta will be operating on a daily basis to the central airport of Linate in Milan.
Due to the situation in Libya, Air Malta had to stop flights to Tripoli and Benghazi. “We had to adapt and find a way to continue providing a link with this country. Therefore, flights to Djerba in neighbouring Tunisia were launched,” he said. Flights to Brussels will be increased from seven to nine flights a week.
20% of all Air Malta’s passengers are Maltese. A good number of them use local travel agents, the Air Malta CEO said.
Earlier in the discussion, Malta Tourism Authority marketing director Leslie Vella said that one in four Maltese travellers use package tours to go abroad.
Asked by moderator Norma Saliba whether the enhancement of connectivity reaped any results to local tour operators, George Micallef – consultant at the Ministry of Tourism – said that the numbers speak for themselves, referring to the growth seen in the last few years. One-fifth of holidays in Europe will be booked online through the use of mobile phones by end of 2015, Mr Micallef said.
Karl Borg from the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association said that the more connectivity is enhanced, the more tourists will flock to Malta. He said that 97 per cent of tourists arriving here (those sleeping at least one night in tourist accommodation) are coming by plane.