Air Malta, Ryanair offer low fares... and exchange broadsides

The advent of low-cost airlines to Malta has certainly proved beneficial to consumers as increased competition has resulted in rock-bottom airline fares being introduced on a scale never seen before.

Both Air Malta and Ryanair yesterday came out with exceptionally good offers and at the same time took the opportunity to criticise each other's marketing strategy in a war of words which consumers have now grown accustomed to.

Ryanair, Europe's largest low-fares airline, announced it will be offering 25,000 seats for free on Maltese routes, excluding taxes and charges.

Air Malta, on the other hand, announced that its clients could travel to one of three destinations for only Lm3/€6.99 (excluding taxes and fuel surcharge) one way.

Ryanair's sales and marketing manager for southern Europe, Bridget Dowling said: "Don't miss this great opportunity to book free flights from Malta. With routes to Pisa, Bremen, London (Luton), Dublin, Barcelona (Girona), Stockholm and Valencia, Maltese passengers are now spoiled for choice and no longer have to be subjected to Air Malta's ludicrously high fares.

"Why not catch a sunny break in Spain or Italy, or check out Christmas markets in Germany. Whatever your fancy, flying has never been cheaper or easier with Ryanair's seat sale," Ms Dowling added, pointing out that, since the offer was available for only one week, passengers should log onto www.ryanair.com immediately "to snap up a bargain".

The booking period for this offer is until Monday and the travel period covered is from October 1 to February 7, 2008. Flights to the UK and Ireland are not covered by this special offer during the period October 19 to November 4.

Air Malta's latest special offer, part of its Thank God For Wednesdays campaign, offers consumers the chance to travel to one of three destinations for only Lm3/€6.99 (excluding taxes and fuel surcharge) one way.

This week's destinations are England's ever-popular capital London (Stansted), the Austrian musical city of Vienna and the German city of Hamburg. The offer is valid for travel between November 7 and December 19.

"Our previous seat sale campaigns have attracted an outstanding response from the public. This response has generated excellent results for the airline. Following this strong showing, it is expected that Thank God For Wednesdays will continue to enhance the airline's passenger figures in the coming months," Joe Cappello, Air Malta's chief executive officer, said.

"With full service treatment, a brand new aircraft fleet together with quality in-flight entertainment, Air Malta is making sure it continues to be the best value focused carrier operating the Malta route.

"Air Malta prides itself for being the airline that does not levy any ludicrously hidden charges to its passengers when booking online, checking-in their luggage and when using the traditional check-in services. Hotel accommodation with Flyaway Tours and Europcar car hire is also available," Air Malta said.

More information on these special offers can be obtained from Air Malta's new portal www.airmalta.com, on which the flights in question will be on sale as from every preceding Friday evening, or by dialling 2166 2211.