Double digit growth for Air Malta
Results and outlook for July, August, also positive
Air Malta said today that it was the driving force behind the increase in tourism arrivals registered this year, with 57 percent of the 77,000 additional tourists who came to Malta in the first half of this year using the airline.
In June, Air Malta continued to register the same double digit growth recorded over the last eight months, increasing its traffic by 13 per cent.
Chief officer commercial Brock Friesen said, “We are building on the positive results registered last winter, when, for the first time in its history, Air Malta transported over half a million passengers. In the first half of the year the Maltese airline has yet again consolidated its position as the preferred airline amongst visitors from all European countries of origin.
Dr Friesen said that figures released this month by the Association of European Airlines also confirmed that Air Malta was one of the few European airlines that registered double digit growth from January to June this year. The industry figures confirmed that in the first six months of the year, Air Malta transported 14.6 per cent more passengers.
Dr Friesen attributed the achievement to the continuous refinement of pricing policies, aggressive international advertising and successful direct selling on the airline’s portal www.airmalta.com.
He said the Maltese tourism industry was strongly benefiting from Air Malta’s traffic growth. The results and outlook for July and August were also quite positive, although double digit growth figures were not projected.
Air Malta was also actively pursuing other off-line markets. The existing code-share agreements with Lufthansa, Air One, and Turkish Airlines would be further consolidated with other airline partners in the next few months whereby Air Malta would continue to expand its network, Dr Friesen said.