Malta International Airport said this afternoon that it could not acknowledge any correlation between its charges and an announcement by Ryanair that it may reduce services to Malta in the winter.

Bridget Dowling, Ryanair sales and marketing manager, said earlier today that high fuel and Malta airport costs had caused the low-cost airline to curtail growth in Malta and may even lead to services on some routes being stopped for the winter.

MIA said it appreciated Ryanair's contribution to passenger growth as well as to Malta's tourism industry in general. MIA also particularly appreciated the introduction of new routes in autumn 2007 by Ryanair all of which fell under MIA's established growth incentive scheme for new routes as in the case of Bremen, Stockholm, Girona, Treviso, and Valencia.

"Though MIA maintains that its charges are most reasonable, MIA's passenger service charge, security fees and landing fees, have not changed since 1st April 2006 and will not be changing in 2008. Given that these charges have not been in any way increased since the commencement of Ryanair's operations to Malta, MIA cannot acknowledge any correlation between its charges and Ryanair's considering to reduce their capacity on Malta ," MIA said.

In a press conference in the morning Ms Dowling said that despite positive results in Malta to date, further growth or the establishment of a base (in Malta) by Ryanair were unrealistic in the absence of lower airport costs, particularly in a market environment where continuing record oil prices threatened to make some existing routes unviable.

Ryanair operates routes to London, Dublin, Pisa, Barcelona, Stockholm, Bremen, Valencia and Venice.

No final decision has been taken yet on the reduction of services for the winter, or which routes will be affected.