Ryanair to operate another four routes

Ryanair, the low-cost airline, will be operating another four routes from Malta, the government said yesterday.

The airline will lay on three flights a week from Bremen in Germany, starting in September.

On October 30, it will start three weekly flights from Bari in Italy and Girona in Spain and two weekly flights from Stockholm (Nykoping).

A call for proposals for airlines to operate the new routes closed on Friday.

Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said that with the new flights, Ryanair will be operating seven routes, which are expected to bring in about 160,000 passengers in a year. The airline already flies to London, Dublin and Pisa.

The government was expanding the country's air links to European destinations which have been underserved or not served at all, the minister said.

Five other low-cost carriers are operating from Malta, and in a year these were bound to carry about 240,000 passengers.