Ryanair yesterday rubbished reports by the Association of European High Fares Airlines (AEA) that Air Malta loses less baggage than other airlines.

Bridget Dowling, Ryanair sales and marketing manager for southern Europe said the AEA report is meaningless since some of Europe's largest airlines are not included in the statistics.

"Ryanair publishes its statistics every month which show it loses only 0.6 bags per 1,000 passengers compared to Air Malta's 4.5 per 1,000 passengers.

"This means Air Malta is seven times more likely to lose your bag than Ryanair. Not only this, only one out of 10 flights is delayed with Ryanair (88 per cent on time) compared to three out of 10 with Air Malta (69 per cent on time).

"This is why Ryanair delivered 70 per cent of Malta's passenger growth last year and continues to grow. With eight routes so far to and from the island, Ryanair will carry at least 350,000 passengers to/from Malta in 2008, generating a visitor spend of €70 million (Lm30.05 million) and supporting 350 local jobs," she said.

To celebrate Ryanair's record results in Malta the company is offering flights to London, Pisa, Dublin, Barcelona, Bremen, Valencia, Stockholm and Venice from €10 including taxes and charges.

Clients can log on to www.ryanair.com to avail themselves of Ryanair's fares.