71,000 Malta bookings through Ryanair

Ryanair has urged the government to expand its financial initiatives to airlines for "many other routes," saying 71,000 had already booked to use the low-cost carrier's service to Malta.

The Irish airline urged the government to play its part if it is serious about reviving tourism, arguing Malta needs low-cost access to boost hotel occupancy on a year-round basis.

"If the Maltese government is serious about regaining Malta's market share in Europe, then it should vastly expand this initiative to many other routes so that the disastrous occupancy figures seen in November will not be repeated next year or thereafter," the airline said.

Malta International Airport has offered to give up to 50 per cent discount on its passenger service fees and landing charges on flights from airports in four countries - Spain, Poland, Norway and Sweden. The government will also provide market support. Ryanair started linking Malta to Luton and Pisa on October 31 and will fly to Dublin from February 9 in response to what the airline described as a modest initiative by the government. The airline claimed it had already boosted tourism as evidenced by the December figures.

Bridget Dowling, Ryanair's sales and marketing manager for Southern Europe, told The Times the airline had taken no fewer than 71,000 bookings to date on its three Maltese routes.

"This is a good result when compared to our other destinations. Dublin will start on February 9 but is already selling very well. We are happy the Maltese routes are proving successful and we would like to be able to add new routes to Malta in the future," Ms Dowling said.

Commenting on recent figures released by the National Statistics Office, Ryanair's deputy chief executive Michael Cawley said the hotel occupancy rate of 41.3 per cent for last November is a legacy of the government's complete reliance on high-cost airlines.

"The propensity of high-cost airlines to charge high fares on a year-round basis means there is a huge seasonality in tourism in Malta resulting in disastrous levels of occupancy in the off season," he said.

With Ryanair there is no off season because its load factors are as high in the winter as they are during the summer. Ryanair flexes its fares to maximise its seat occupancy on a year-round basis, thereby creating demand for hotel rooms and providing capacity to fill otherwise empty accommodation, Mr Cawley said.