Ryanair unveiled a new route between Bari, Italy and Malta, which starts operating on October 28, replacing the less viable service to Bremen, Germany.

The announcement comes as a surprise just two months after the low-cost airline threatened to "axe possibly one or two" of its existing eight routes and withhold further growth in Malta in the absence of lower airport costs.

Michael Cawley, Ryanair's chief operating officer, said: "We never threatened to pull any routes... Essentially, in winter our fares fall and certain routes consume a lot more fuel. What we did was offer to swap shorter routes for longer routes. Bari is part of that - we will deliver more passengers from here than Bremen."

Mr Cawley was speaking at a press conference that focused on promoting the new route and there was never any mention that Bremen was being substituted by Bari until journalists questioned what had changed from the dire picture painted by the airline in April.

Mr Cawley, who had just concluded a meeting with the Malta Tourism Authority, said he was pleased to hear Malta was expecting a growth of eight to 10 per cent in tourist arrivals. "After the last years of stagnation this is lovely. This is what we promised," he said, taking credit for helping Malta get back on track in tourism.

The figures were, however, contested by Tourism Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco who said Malta was targeting a growth of five per cent, one per cent higher than the European average.

"Though optimistic, we have to be cautious. Tourism is a highly volatile market and we need to monitor the impact of fuel on longer routes and the economic slowdown in the UK," he said.

"If we remain competitive and provide visitors with good value for money, our targets for this year will be achieved and maybe even surpassed," Dr de Marco said when contacted. Mr Cawley spoke highly of Malta's potential and said he personally felt most of the island's routes were being underserved, especially Rome and Milan.

With the new Bari route, Ryanair was expecting to handle 450,000 passengers next year, a figure he optimistically felt would rise to some 700,000 in the next couple of years.

"Once we reach these figures we can think of establishing a base in Malta, though airport costs remain expensive and a major problem. We are pretty certain there will be more new routes from Malta within the next year," he said.

Asked if he expected Malta International Airport to budge on its charges, Mr Cawley was not optimistic but he "lived in hope".

With regard to the soaring fuel prices, Mr Cawley guaranteed Ryanair will not slap a fuel surcharge on its customers even if, in the same sentence, he could not resist pointing out that Air Malta had raised its surcharge.

"The fuel costs are killing us. Despite growing by 20 per cent, we're forecasting we'll just be breaking even," he said.