More passengers fly Air Malta

Air Malta carried 1.4 million passengers on its scheduled services last year, a three per cent increase over the previous year.

The national airline also saw a rise of one per cent in charter traffic to and from Malta, carrying 194,00 passengers. Charter flights operating to other resorts from its UK base carried a further 261,400 passengers.

In the fourth quarter of 2004, the number of passengers on scheduled flights rose two per cent to 295,000, while charter traffic to and from Malta increased by 19 per cent to 38,000 passengers.

In addition the airline carried a further 52,000 passengers on its UK-based charter operation.

Commenting on the last quarter results, Ernst Funk, Air Malta's chief executive officer, remarked that the increase was mainly driven by the "very positive" October results.

"I think that under the circumstances the performance has been reasonable. We do have some concerns about the winter business with the first two months of the season experiencing a weaker demand," he said.

"We are and we will continue to be the largest generator of tourist and business traffic to and from Malta.

"Our success is closely tied to the fortunes of Malta as a destination and there is no doubt that this exposes our business to certain risks."

"With our off-base operations we are diversifying our activities and customer base to ensure sustainable growth for the airline and combined with our determined cost-saving initiatives we are further strengthening our competitive position," Mr Funk said.