A strong accent on Malta

GB Airways managing director John Patterson insists that the airline is in Malta for the long haul. He talks to Steve Mallia about his aspirations, how his airline plans to deal with competition and how much he is looking forward to working with new Maltese cabin crew.

John Patterson may have lived close to the southern UK airports that have provided his bread for the past three decades but his butter is still distinctly spread on the northern side - Sheffield to be precise - where he grew up, left school after doing O levels and, after five years in a job, attended university before being taken on by British Airways as a graduate trainee.

Mr Patterson was a director of Britain's national airline by the time he left in 1999 after 29 "enjoyable" years, finding the call from the owners of GB Airways too good to resist.

His rationale for boarding another airline was as straightforward as his Yorkshire accent: "In a small airline, you can get your hands round it... You can feel much more satisfaction. Because it's small, you can actually change things; do things". He has certainly done that: in the past five years the company has completed its Airbus fleet replacement programme, extended its franchise agreement with British Airways until 2010 and is all set to open a new base in Manchester in May from which Malta stands to benefit with three additional flights per week.

GB Airways is owned by the Bland Group, headed by the Gaggero family whose origins lie in Gibraltar. The franchise agreement basically means that the airline is the British Airways arm in 28 European locations ranging from France to Morocco and many places in between, including, of course, Malta.

From its base at the old Gatwick Airport, known as the Beehive - so called because it actually looks like one - the company's 900 employees manage a fleet of 13 aircraft which carry about two million passengers a year. Busy bees for a small airline.

But the similarities with our honey-producing friends do not stop there: there is a buzzing family atmosphere around the place that probably owes as much to Mr Patterson's manner as it does to the local pub down the road, which is where various members of staff - "our lot", as he referred to them when he took me there for a drink - descended upon after work.

And Mr Patterson is proud to announce the addition of new offspring: "We interviewed 250 applicants in Malta last October. We took seven on and have another seven coming, which is very good... I've not met any of them yet but we'll certainly make a big fuss of them here. We can fix their problems easier and make them feel better.

"The fact that we have a Maltese contingent is news in the place. From our point of view, it's a measure that we care about the Maltese market".

The airline has a number of non-British cabin crew from Spain, Portugal, France and Morocco. "We took a view that when Malta joined the EU it would be a good idea to get some Maltese crew: we find foreign crews are very good on board - they're keen, very enthusiastic. It is such a novelty for young kids to come over here, get a job, and to have enough money to live in what for them is a cold but exciting environment. Apart from that, we are improving our language stock; the Brits are poor at languages but the Maltese do speak a lot of languages."

He is certainly no fool when it comes to talking about Malta, whose history he admires, respects and wants to find out more about. A sipper of wine rather than beer, a lover of the French Riviera rather than Blackpool, this rather untypical Brit also has views on where this island should be going: "Malta is best when you look at the history. I don't think people understand its history sufficiently. They have an image of Malta which is based on the British relationship and have probably taken it for granted. Therefore, it has an image to wrestle with which is very attractive to some Brits but turns others off.

"I think what Malta has to do, and is doing, is to move away from that traditional image. The island has improved its services, improved its bed stock, is a more attractive Mediterranean destination - the old image is changing. It's got a very safe reputation with families and a growing diving niche... Judging by our loads in the past few years, I think it is succeeding."

Success is hardly a word that can be associated with many airlines at the moment, which have been affected by one shock after another and increasing competition in a very cut-throat market. Mr Patterson prefers the term "turmoil" to crisis and says the aviation industry is certainly not for the faint hearted. He maintains that GB Airways is holding its own, though admits it has felt the effect of no frills, low cost airlines like Ryanair and Easyjet.

So how would it deal with one or both of these airlines coming to Malta? "We've coped with it elsewhere. We compete with them directly on routes like Montpellier - head to head - and will be competing with them on Porto and Valencia and Seville. We find that the arrival of Ryanair tends to grow the market. It is not all bad news... It is definitely going to affect us. Is it terminal? Not at all. We'll still be there.

"It might mean that we don't grow as quickly; it might mean that we may have to change our plans to cope with things; it might mean that the Maltese route is less profitable but what I guarantee will happen is that GB will still have a route." Not only that but GB Airways will as from May be expanding its operations to Malta and flying thrice-weekly from Manchester, where Mr Patterson believes there is a good client base that has been exploited well in the past by Air Malta. "We did very well in the summer (to Malta) from Gatwick. We have built it up; this summer we are expecting 12 services from Gatwick. It's been quite profitable and it's tempted us to expand."

Mr Patterson estimates that GB Airways carried about 80,000 passengers to Malta last summer and he expects that figure to increase by 30,000 with the addition of the Manchester route this year.

This is also good news for consumers. Not only do they have more choice but fares have been going down steadily. "A few years ago a return trip to Malaga would have cost about £150. These days it is about £89... We guarantee that you can get a given percentage of those prices on our website - it depends when you want to travel." But, unlike other low cost carriers, GB Airways has not achieved those cuts at the expense of in-flight service, he maintains.

"We are a franchise of British Airways so there is a limit to what you can do. You have to meet the brand specifications. We would argue that we are low cost; what we don't provide is no frills. We are flying the aircraft longer and harder which means our utilisation is going up. So we are learning many of the lessons of low cost without necessarily changing how the aircraft feels to the customer."

One of those lessons has been the development of the website - ba.com - to enable customers to purchase flights online. This now accounts for around 50 per cent of GB Airways' bookings. But to back up his argument that passengers still want a good service, he says that the club class cabin provides 20 per cent of the airline's revenue. And he has every confidence in the viability of the Maltese route: "Malta is coming of age. If we're actually saying we're flying twice a day in the summer from Gatwick, nearly once a day from Manchester, that's three flights a day on some days to Malta. That's big business for us."

So does Mr Patterson think GB Airways will come out on top? "I don't think we'll lose," he says, with no obvious hint of complacency or bravado. Shame for him that he cannot say the same these days about his beloved football team, Sheffield Wednesday, whose fortunes have gone in the opposite direction to the airline's. But raising that subject would most probably have spoilt a very good dinner. And by 7.30 p.m. on a cold Sussex winter evening, that was not in either of our interests!