Right to fly at low cost

Only the minister responsible for Gozo Channel might have been surprised at the recent record passenger crossings announced by Gozo Channel. Most of us expected this since, thanks to strong government intervention, practically Gozo is the only affordable option the Maltese have to spend long weekends.

At a time when Malta should be opening up to Europe, it seems that in some sectors such as travel we are going back to the Mintoff era, forcing Maltese to spend their money at home.

The government keeps assuring us that major low-cost airlines, such as German Wings and Meridiana, are being attracted to Malta. However, the truth is that Malta still has only very limited access to cheap flights and destinations which other European counterparts enjoy. A search on the internet for flights in May showed that return fares from Malta on German Wings and Meridiana compare more to Air Malta fares than fares of major low-cost airlines such as Ryanair and Easyjet.

A return flight on Ryanair from Malta to Pisa in May could cost as low as Lm40 including our country's exorbitant government taxes and airport fees. An Italian could fly from Pisa to Malta and back on the same airline for the incredible price of €34 (Lm14.59) including taxes, since passengers on flights not originating in Malta do not pay the Malta departure tax. These are the type of incredible fares that Maltese and foreign families look for, especially when travelling only for a long weekend.

Our authorities should be running after major low cost airlines and enticing them to come to Malta not dreading the moment one of them shows interest in Malta. It is a shame that at a time when our tourism minister seemed to be pushing for low cost airlines, another minister, in the Amitex fair opening speech of 2006, pounded Ryanair's proposals to operate to Malta, insisting that his only interest was to safeguard jobs at Air Malta.

Instead of proactively seeking to streamline Air Malta's operations in line with today's market requirements, such as the increased demand for short independent holidays at cheap prices, some of our authorities seem inclined to keep on protecting outdated and inefficient practices in an airline infested for years with political appointments, at the expense of Maltese taxpayers.

It is common, for example, to board half empty Air Malta aircraft, when these seats could be sold as last minute cheap seats on Air Malta's website.

MIA's fees seem to be hindering low-cost airlines which offer very cheap fares from operating to Malta.

Ryanair has been claiming that MIA's charges are more than three times what the airline pays in other airports of similar size to Malta's. MIA has argued that its fees are not higher than Heathrow's!

In the case of Ryanair, it seems that our authorities decided to let MIA keep on making profits from highly inefficient practices such as regular empty gates in late mornings and late afternoons, and fork out subsidies from taxpayers' money. It would have made more sense if MIA reduced fees for all airlines operating to Malta and attracted more passenger traffic. This reduction could have been reflected in cheaper passenger fares for all airlines, including Air Malta.

It is about time that our country takes a proactive instead of reactive approach to our tourism industry. The right to travel at low prices to and from Malta will remain almost a no-go area as long as some of our authorities persist in this hard headedness.