Accessibility in core markets being addressed - de Marco

m farrugia

Apr 2nd 2009, 20:56

Why haven't LCC routes to Germany, France, Switzerland, Netherlands and East European countries? Why do we keep on opening LCC routes only to Italy and the UK ? If the reason for this is that the govt. is that the govt is keen on protecting Airmalta, it is a very short sighted vision. We are just protecting unproductive jobs such as hundreds of jobs at Airmalta head Office and ruining the whole tourism industry. And with all these employees on its books, is it true that Airmalta outsourced its call centre to a private company? As many Maltese are realising, no one can compete with Ryanair for cheap prices,Airmalta's prices are often three times or four times as much. A number of Maltese families have simply stopped using Airmalta for their independent holidays and search only on Ryanairs website for their holiday. Ryanair serves hundreds of routes throughout Europe. If Ryanair does not fly to Malta from a country, foreigners simply opt for another destination. I suspect that's what most Germans, French and Swiss are doing.

M.Bezzina

Apr 2nd 2009, 17:37

Just picked roughly dates to UK if I had to go for a short holiday via Airmalta,Ryanair,Easyjet and British Airways this is the result I got: AirMalta: To Gatwick and back 15th July to 20th July 1 Adult 210.00 EUR Taxes 41.28 EUR Fuel Surcharge 50.00 EUR Total 301.28 EUR (return ticket) Ryanair: To Luton and back 15th July to 20th July Fare:164.25 (return ticket) Taxes:54.27 Total:218.52 Easyjet 15-20 July Fare:€175.66 Taxes:€44.50 Baggage:€22.00 Total:€242.16 British Airways Fare:€190.00 Taxes:€93.28 Total:€283.28 Ryanair do not operate to Gatwick but I picked up an airport within the area (i.e Luton).AirMata still charges for the fuel surcharge despite the fuel went extremely lower than when it was introduced!! Can you explain how on earth am I going to choose my own airline to travel with?Giving that the prices talks by themsleves?

Yvar

Apr 2nd 2009, 17:33

Please start a low cost service from The Netherlands to Malta! In The Netherlands we can only choose between Air Malta and Transavia, which aren't cheap.. Thanks!

Robert Zammit

Apr 2nd 2009, 17:26

I think the MTA is spending money in the feeder markets but it needs to do something about the visuals if they are all like the ones i saw a few weeks ago in Paris. The metro stations were covered very well wth huge Posters but there was nothing in them to make you want to go to Malta. Please note this is not just my comment but the commets i got from the many friends i have in Paris ! I'm told what was great was the short spot on TV before the weather report, well done , very active and giving a good impression about Malta. As to the posters it could have been any port or place in the mediterranean, and they were so very unattractive with nothing to make one want to go reserve, just a normal boring poster, that was mostly the comment one could hear while waiting for the tube to arrive.

J.Scicluna

Apr 2nd 2009, 17:19

What about Visa requirements??? Passengers normally opt for some place where they don't need a Visa. Moreover, it has been more than proven that flights exceeding 4/5hours are disproportionatley higher than the 2/3hour flights. And why should Air Malta be the only one to bear the brunt? The Hotels don't even want to pay a miserly EUR0.50 per night to help in the "war effort"!!!!

Silvan Said

Apr 2nd 2009, 16:57

continued from previous comment...

Airmalta should be looking at the possibility of a flight to Bahrain which is the closest destination in the Arabian Gulf (about 4.5 hours) where it can link Bahrain and parts of Saudi and all routes served by Gulf Air or Bahrain Air, and from Bahrain onwards to Abu Dhabi (one hour) to link with Etihad and all the routes of this growing world airline.

With such a route, KM can assist Maltese entrepreneurs and people seeking business and professional opportunities in the ME and promote Malta as a tourist Destination for inbound traffic.

The Middle East is an important growing region and if KM and the Ministry of Toursm contune to look inwards, as is happening by introducing cut throat rates only on European Destinations Malta will miss the opportunity.

Just as an example, I would only suggest that at the current exchange rates, tourists from the Middle East stand to gain from buying Euros so the loss of Sterling based tourists would be handsomely compensated by Midde Eastern Tourists.

Food for tought. let's grow up and look outwards!

Silvan Said

Apr 2nd 2009, 16:52

Why is Airmalta and the Ministry looking North and West for attracting Tourism to Malta. It is an undeniable fact that the fastest growing region and most affluent today is the Middle East.

So why not look East, specifically at Gilf countries and the Middle East. Outbound Tourism from these countries is booming and they are being attracted to Malaysia and other Far Eastern Countries or the traditional Capitals of Europe.

Malta is served by a daily flight with Emirates. This is effectively the only link to the East (including far East) which Malta has and it is expensive, very expensive. It is an excellent service, but nevertheless the lack of competition on this route means that Maltese are paying high prices for outbound travel and incoming tourists are discouraged.

Continued.....