Malta missing out

Low-cost airlines must come to Malta. My local airport has seen an increase of over one million passengers this year since these airlines started using it.

Hotels are complaining of low occupancy yet Malta does not offer what its competitors offer - low-cost airlines.

These are not the domain of the poor. In fact it is the reverse: most passengers I meet are well off but like a bargain. It is now companies and the government that are the main users of full-cost airlines.

Low-cost airlines fly from regional airports as in the UK most people live hundreds of miles from the main airports, not as in Malta where everyone is within practically 15 minutes of the airport.

Since low-cost airlines have started to operate from near my home I have travelled overseas over 10 times this year and have wanted before to come to Malta but it still entails a 200-mile drive to Heathrow and a ridiculous fare.

Instead, I can go to Spain from my local airport and be there in under two hours (half the time it takes to get to Heathrow) and have a lot of money left over to spend at the other end.

If Malta wants to fill its hotels it must reduce the air fares and offer a better service at the airport too.

The day I arrived there was no other plane at the airport yet it took 38 minutes for my bags to get from the plane to the carousel (I can fly to France from home quicker than that). I wonder if they would be able to manage with more passengers?