In his letter of April 1, Manuel Zammit wrote how an Air Malta flight he purchased for Lm116 was being sold for Lm94 a month later. He went on to accuse Air Malta of misleading advertising saying he complained to every institution under the Maltese sun seeking retribution. Mr Zammit ended his letter with the slogan "Bring on Ryanair".

Perhaps Mr Zammit will find the following interesting. On April 2 I checked a Ryanair return flight from Palermo to London (Stansted) for the period July 3-10. The fare was €170, excluding taxes. Not exactly a cheap flight considering that Air Malta was selling its Catania-London (Gatwick) on the same dates for €149, also excluding taxes. On April 21 I checked the Ryanair flight again and found that it is now being sold for €100, without taxes, €70 less in the space of three weeks.

Unlike Air Malta, all Ryanair fares are instant purchase which means that the "lame excuse" of cancellation of earlier bookings does not apply to Ryanair. Until a few months ago, a quoted fare was almost guaranteed not to change in months. Now there is complete mayhem. This phenomenon is new to us and being the inquisitive people that we are nothing is taken at face value. Everything is questioned.

I am not sure whether Ryanair is Mr Zammit's favourite airline or Air Malta his most hated one, but clearly, like many caught in the Ryanair frenzy, Mr Zammit is not ready for the low-cost revolution. My advice for the likes of Mr Zammit is to hone their typing skills as I expect to see many more such letters gracing these columns in the not too distant future. A good start will be an apology to Air Malta for his defamatory letter.