The Prime Minister, interviewed on Bondiplus, stated that the situation in Malta regarding low-cost airlines is different to that of other countries in that we only have one principal airport to operate from, whereas in other cases these airlines operate from provincial airports and not the respective country's main one.

This is an erroneous statement. As has been reported on the BBC news website recently, Latvia has only one international airport, Riga. Like us they have a national airline, Air Baltic. Ryanair however has been operating from Riga for one year, paying discounted airport handling fees on principal routes (as has Air Baltic) since that time.

Ryanair in that year delivered 650,000 extra tourists to Latvia. Whereas it was easy to book a hotel in Riga at a cheap price just over a year ago, it is now impossible as they are always full up... and this includes the five-star hotels.

In the meantime, Air Baltic, stimulated by Ryanair, grows and continues to thrive despite sharing routes with Ryanair. Riga's airport, due to the increase in passenger numbers, is going to expand and has registered an increased profit.

Here is a situation similar to ours where a country, in the endeavour to compete, bit the bullet and is now reaping the rewards.

I would advise our Prime Minister and his Tourism Minister to study the case of Riga, learn from it, and see how we can use the knowledge to our advantage.