The first EasyJet flight to Malta touched down at the airport late yesterday morning, saluted by jets of water from two fire engines.
The warm welcome for the low-fare airline did not end there. The 162 passengers were greeted with bottles of Maltese wine, handed to them by two women dressed in traditional costume, courtesy of the Malta Tourism Authority, which also gave out toys.
The crew were also welcomed at the Malta International Airport with bouquets of flowers from airport crew who went on the apron.
The white plane - which did not carry the distinctive orange colours usually sported by EasyJet, landed at 11.33 a.m. - eight minutes after its original scheduled landing time.
As it sped along the runway, the two Malta International Airport fire engines revved their engines and prepared to spurt jets of water which created an arch for the plane to pass through.
This was the first flight by the Luton-based low-cost airline to Malta after it bought British Airways franchise GB Airways last October. EasyJet will be flying 10 weekly flights from London's Gatwick airport and daily from Manchester during the summer months. It will continue flying from Gatwick daily during the shoulder months and four times a week from Manchester.
Since it took over the slots that had been previously operated by GB Airways, EasyJet was not given any subsidies, although it is a budget airline.
Giant low-fare carrier Ryanair started flying to Malta in late 2006. The following year a record number of tourists visited, much of that success being attributed to the advent of cheap travel to the island as other low-cost carriers followed suit and national airline Air Malta slashed the price of tickets to compete.
EasyJet's flight is not the only "first" in these few days. Today the first British Airways flight from Gatwick will arrive while Spain's Vueling will operate its first flight to Malta from Madrid tomorrow. Italian airlines Volare and Air One will also start operating flights to Malta. The latter three are all low-cost airlines.
In the meantime, Air Malta will start operating from Leipzig, Germany, twice weekly from May.
Passengers arriving on these flights - either a first to Malta by the airline or a first from that destination - will all be receiving a warm welcome, Rosanne Sciberras, senior executive of MTA's hospitality division, said.