Ryanair claims better lost-luggage record

Ryanair patted itself on the back yesterday saying it held a better record on lost luggage than Air Malta.

In a statement, Ryanair said it wished to clarify the outcome of a study released by the Association of European Airlines last week, which indicated that Air Malta was Europe's best performing airline in terms of lost luggage.

Bridget Dowling, sales and marketing manager for Southern Europe, claimed: "As well as offering the lowest average fare in Europe, Ryanair is also No. 1 for customer service with only 0.4 missing bags per 1,000 passengers, compared with Air Malta's whopping 3.2 lost bags per 1,000 passengers - that means Air Malta loses eight times more bags than Ryanair does."

Ryanair pointed out that the quarterly Association of European Airlines report did not include low-cost airlines.

Ryanair was also the best for punctuality, with 87 per cent of flights arriving on time and 99.5 per cent of completed flights, Ms Dowling said.

A spokesman for Air Malta had no comment to make.