Ryanair has extended its offer of 25,000 free seats on its Malta routes by one week to celebrate its new Malta-Venice operation scheduled to start on December 13.
The offer was meant to have closed today. The flight bonanza is valid on flights to eight destinations between next month and February, excluding peak and Christmas periods. Passengers only have only to pay taxes, fees and charges - some of which are even being absorbed by the airline.
One-way flights, including all charges, to Barcelona, Bremen, Pisa, Valencia and Venice start from €10 while those to Dublin, London and Stockholm start at €47.99. Bookings have to be made by next Thursday.
The airline will be flying from Venice three times a week.
The government is expected to issue a call for proposals from low-cost airlines to operate the Venice route.
Speaking during a press conference yesterday, Ryanair deputy chief executive Michael Cawley dismissed claims that the airline had brought pressure to bear on the government to grant it the Bologna route.
Bologna, which was officially dropped by Meridiana this month, has been taken up by Air Malta.
Mr Crawley said both Italians and Spaniards were very keen to travel. "If you drop the fare, the potential is almost unlimited."
The airline was planning to deliver 300,000 passengers to and from Malta over the next 12 months with the addition of the new route, generating a €63 million visitor spend and supporting 300 local jobs, he said.
Asked whether Ryanair was considering any more routes to Malta, Mr Cawley said the airline could fly from any of its bases around Europe, including Bristol and Frankfurt, but there were currently no indications of new routes.
Although the airline is intent on setting up a base here, Mr Cawley said this would not be possible before next September.
He pointed out that while at the moment Malta could only be linked to airports where the airline had a base, the possibilities of new routes from the island would be endless if the airline had a local base.
Currently, the airline has 23 bases in 26 countries and flies to 136 airports.
Mr Cawley pointed out that a Ryanair base here could attract passengers travelling with other airlines, who would catch a connection in Malta.
Since the airline started flying to Malta last October it had stimulated local tourism, evidenced by the fact that this was the best year for tourism in the last six. "What we have done here is only the tip of the iceberg."
The island had beaten some stiff competition including from Cyprus, he said, adding that there was great hunger for travel at the right price.
"Malta needs to catch up with the development in the rest of Europe and revive its ailing tourism industry."
Questioned about the taxes and charges for passengers flying from Malta, Mr Cawley said these were "too high".
He stressed the importance of keeping the cost of travel down because this would help economic activity.
Asked whether low cost meant low maintenance, Mr Cawley said the airline operates 900 flights a day and has never had a report of an incident.
Mr Cawley, who was due to meet Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech yesterday, noted that the increase in passenger numbers allowed the airline to sustain profitability even while cutting the average fare.
The airline's projection is to carry some 50 million passengers next year, not including the 10 million-odd passengers it was offering to airports around Europe.