Air Malta decision to stop Glasgow flights criticised
The Labour Party spokesman on tourism, Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, has criticised an Air Malta decision to stop services to Glasgow from November.
“This decision will impact on efforts being made by operators who are promoting Malta as a year-round destination. An essential feature of the infrastructure that is needed for more tourists to visit Malta is seat capacity from as many destinations as possible,” Mrs Coleiro-Preca said.
She asked if other services would also be stopped if they were not commercially viable. She said Air Malta was part of the economic infrastructure and the government, while giving attention to viability, should also ensure that the airline could shoulder responsibilities which went beyond this factor.
21 Comments
Post comment
Please sign in or create your Account to post comments.
Fabian Mizzi
Jul 31st 2008, 14:12
@ Liam Kelly
Can you tell me who the shareholders of the Company are ? All Directors are appointed by the Government since it is the majority shareholder with only a small percentage belonging to private individuals. Where were you when Air malat used to make millions of Maltese Liri in profits and these were added to the Kaxxa ta' Malta ??
Do you want Air Malta to become another Alitalia with the Government of the day having to guarantee the empoyee's wages ?? When a route is not profitable it should be stopped. Let Ryanair or Easyjet fight for the route now !!!!
Ian Glazier
Jul 31st 2008, 02:13
Mrs Coleiro Preca is 100% correct in her capacity as spokesperson on tourism.
The issue is about bringing more tourists to Malta.I have been travelling to Malta for eighteen months now and have been to the Island 10 times in that period.I have bought a flat here since december and have been responsible for 80 person visits in that time of friends and relatives.
It is convenient having a direct flight whether from Central Belt Scotland taking approx 3.5 hours.
In all my visits the most I have seen is about 10 empty seats.
I have found Air Malta to be an excellent Airline and at reasonable prices.
There are now so many alternative flights to othe Med destinations at shorter journeys and much cheaper therefore Malta will now struggle to compete for the 5 million Scots tourists.
I have also tried e mailing Air Matla direct via a Mr Brock Friesen at least 3 times and personally visited the head office in Valetta last month however no one will answere my queries.
I would like to thank Mrs Coleira Preca for raising the issue and it is refreshing to see an interesting debate within the Times.
T Mifsud
Jul 30th 2008, 23:58
I cannot believe Ms Coleiro Preca uttered criticism on sound commercial decisions on Air Malta when it is trying to battle uphill against spiraling fuel costs and cutthroat competition.
Political interference into a commercial company like Air Malta will only do harm. This is clearly a gaffe and Ms Coleiro Preca should clarify her statement to repair damage done. She should support Air Malta's efforts to become viable rather than having her first uttered word on Air Malta as interference in commercial matters.
Michael Tabone
Jul 30th 2008, 18:12
I go to Scotland every year because I have family there. I should be very upset, but sadly I have to accept why Air Malta is doing this. Air Malta had stated when the price for oil rose, that there have to be cut-backs in the amount of flights for Malta.
Glasgow airport to my knowledge was the only destination which airmalta had a direct flight towards, if you were heading to scotland. This is unfortunate but not really a big negative impact, since anyone heading to Malta from Scotland can easilly get to an Airport in England and catch a flight directly to Malta from there.
Either AirMalta keeps finding ways to remain competitive and keep it's profits up or else it will have money problems. This obviously is the solution. I will be effected by this, but appreciate that they don't have a much of an alternative in the matter, except to cut the amount of flights they provide.
C Magrin
Jul 30th 2008, 17:27
From what I read the Labour spokesperson has only shown her concern of the implications such decisions have on this pillar of our economy. I read nowhere any interferance in the National airline.
As a destination we are almost completely dependent on the airlines industry and by reducing seats we shall all feel the pinch. I did not see any move from AM to move to another more profitable destination and by offering Glasgow with a connection via British Midlands from London will not suite Scotish passengers even more so if the cost is not that attractive.
What is needed is for all stakeholders to sit and try to find a solution to this problem as this can have negative implications from other destinations.
By the way arn't we all aware that the Government is subsidising tourists who come via Ryan Air so if some sort of assistance is given to AM what would be wrong in this? What we are not aware is the amount of subsidy being offered to Ryan Air!! So what if Ryan Air would go for this route would critics be willing to subsidise such seats?
Denis Catania
Jul 30th 2008, 17:04
This is a business decision and if they are losing money. I don't blame them. I wish Air Malta would fly to New York, but it's not profitable.I would have to be selfish to complain and cry.When Air Malta stops flying to Malta, than you guys can cry.
I Laferla
Jul 30th 2008, 17:03
If this was the commercially best option, not to lose money, then AM is taking the best decision! Probably, come November / December, MLC would have criticised AM that it is losing money & it's not doing its Homework right! To come to Malta, go through London.
Anthony Caruana
Jul 30th 2008, 16:48
I am sure that those of us who travel to Malta from Glasgow would gladly pay a reasonable extra fare to fly from Glasgow. This coupled with perhaps reducing the number of flights from Glasgow currently two per week to one should be investigated. When I book my holiday to Malta via Malta Direct Travel I am often told there are only a few seats left available on the Glasgow flight and I can confirm that this is true as the aircraft is almost full.
Please re-instate at least one flight per week at a reasonably higher cost and see if it is viable. .
Liam Kelly
Jul 30th 2008, 16:33
Mrs Coleiro Preca is spot on here.
@ John Azzopardi: So its ok for us tax payers to bail Air Malta out every time the Air Malta shareholders come crying to the government, but its not ok for us as consumers to expect a decent network of services in return?; particularly to a country which central belt region is growing and has two of the fastest growing airports in the UK? This is so short sighted its laughable!
I totally disagree with running routes which aren't viable and sustaibable, but the fact is that Air Malta managed this route so badly it was as if they wanted it to fail: some prices quoted would have made getting a taxi all the way to Scotland from Malta cheaper! The times of the flight (latterly) were utterly ridiculous for people comming from other areas in the Central Belt (which most of the passengers were).
Not to mention the blatent opportunity missed by Air Malta to switch the route to Edinburgh, thus benefitting from the Route Development Fund which was available and also benefit from substantially cheaper landing fee's.
J Farrugia
Jul 30th 2008, 16:19
Dear ML Coleiro Preca, would you like to shoulder some responsibility if AM takes your advice and then has to give the bon servito to some of its employees like other airlines do? Will you and your party stop meddling in AM's commercial affairs? Look at Ryanair, and we were all flattered that this LOW COST airline came to Malta. and what did it do? It economised on some routes for the winter. For all that talk is cheap....!
manuel micallef
Jul 30th 2008, 15:59
I thought we were going to have more options. So now Maltese need to fly somewhere else to go to Scotland and so do Scotish.
Brilliant - I must say.
No more direct scottish links
S. Cassar
Jul 30th 2008, 15:54
When Ryanair and Easyjet asked for routes from Malta to the North of Britain, these were denied to protect Air Malta. And whilst prices in the south of the Uk were dropping as Air Malta competed with the low cost airlines, flights to Manchester and other Northern destinations remained sky high. At times I've had to pay over LM 200 to fly to Manchester in January! It was only when Easyjet bought GB airways to aquire the route that some sort of decent prices started becoming available. Whilst I understand that the govt is trying to protect Maltese jobs by helping Air Malta, the time has come to let the airline compete on its own merit which it is not doing as the govt is still protecting it from other airlines. Let Air Malta operate to wherever it pleases but let other airlines do so as well!
A:Vella
Jul 30th 2008, 15:50
While we are at it, maybe Ms. Coleiro Preca should also advise to Air Malta on leasing a 747 or an A380, so that we will be able to visit our relatives in the States and down under.
Albert leone ganado
Jul 30th 2008, 15:33
I fully agree that Government should not interfere in any way in the commercial decisions of Air Malta.
On the other hand we should not tolerate in future any attempt by Air Malta to prevent a low cost airline taking over the Scottish route.
Joseph Caruana
Jul 30th 2008, 15:31
I bet that the real reason behind this is that Ryanair will be starting flights from Malta to Prestwick (which it markets as Glasgow) in the short term.
In that case, Air Malta did well not to continue investing its efforts on a route which it would ultimately not have the final say in.
Joseph Ellis
Jul 30th 2008, 15:08
Air Malta must have its reasons for stopping this flight. The less political interference in AM's operations, the better. It has sound management which seems to be weathering well the storms that are engulfing the airline industry.
AM also seems to be bent on an organic growth in the intra-European market and it is increasing its flights from Catania. What I find rather surprising is that it is not exploiting the void that Alitalia has left in Malpensa. Other airlines such as Lufthansa are stepping in the vacuum. In fact, Lufthansa will be adding 10 aircraft (as much as AM's entire fleet) in Malpensa as from next year. Or is AM holding back from competing head on with Lufthansa in view of a possible tie-up in the future ?
S Azzopardi
Jul 30th 2008, 15:07
If airmalta decides to cancel routes purely on commercial grounds than it will be just behaving like Ryanair and Easyjet.
Was this not part of the reason for keeping airmalta afloat so that we would have our airline with some social conscience?
What about the same flight servicing more than one airport like Glasgow and Liverpool?
Ian Sammut Dacoutros
Jul 30th 2008, 14:59
What is AirMalta's ultimate aim? To make money. If a route is not viable then it would be wrong of the airline to continue. It is not like it is impossible to get to Malta from Glasgow!!!!
John Azzopardi
Jul 30th 2008, 14:50
Suggesting that government should interfere in the commercial operations of Air Malta is tantamount to advocating subsidy to make good for losses incurred from operations that are no longer viable. What would be the gain for anyone when the taxpayer (once again) has to dig deep to subsidise (yet another) loss-making situation simply so that we can say that we fly to this or that destination? In effect it would mean that the taxpayer would be paying for the tourists' holiday! Not a lot of sense in that surely.
DVella
Jul 30th 2008, 14:39
Too right this should be criticised, this move effectively allows our esteemed national airline to charge an extortionate markup for any connection flights from Heathrow/Gatwick to Glasgow through another airline. . . I would strongly advise any potential travellers to Scotland to make their own arrangements for the additional trip after arriving in London!
James Fenech
Jul 30th 2008, 14:32
It is very normal for an airline to stop a destination especially if it loses money on such a route.
Airlines like Lufthansa stopped destinations such as Rio De Janeiro even if one could never get a seat on these flights as they were always packed.
Yes Air Malta should stop the route and replace it with another route were it can make more money from.