MIA rebuts claims of extravagant charges

Malta International Airport has rebutted claims by Ryanair’ yesterday, that its charges were extravagant when compared to those of other EUropean airlines.

Its charges, MIA said, had not been changed since 2006.

The airport said that the benchmark of charges claimed by Ryanair did not reflect the costs of the average European airports but of regional ones which did not offer the same service and product offered at MIA.

MIA stressed that contrary to Ryanair’s claims, it was neither misleading the Maltese nor holding the tourism industry to ransom. It was, on the contrary, contributing tangibly and considerably towards the industry and the Maltese economy.

MIA said €1 million were disbursed last year in incentives to attract the operation of new routes including to and from Bari, Edinburgh, Treviso, Stockholm and Girona, operated by Ryanair.

The company would willingly support further route development which qualified for its published incentive scheme to attract new and strategic destinations.

It had also invested €25 million to enhance its infrastructure to render a quality service to the industry in the past three year and contributed a substantial amount in taxes.