Tuesday, 23rd June 2009 - 14:43CET

Update 2: British Airways to stop Malta-Gatwick service - Air Malta to raise frequency

Air Malta said this afternoon that it will increase its capacity on the London Gatwick route after the announcement by British Airways that it would drop the route from October 25.

The airline said that instead of a daily service to London Gatwick, it will operate nine weekly flights. ITe airline will increase another weekly flight for the Christmas travelling period, whilst larger aircraft will be deployed on all the daily Gatwick services in the remaining winter months.

Brock Friesen, Chief Officer Commercial said “This is line with the airline’s commercial strategy to extend the summer season and reduce the traditional traffic slowdown between the summer and winter months. The additional shoulder traffic will bolster the local tourism industry during this challenging period. Gatwick airport is one of most attractive London airports vis-à-vis leisure short break traffic that requires frequent and convenient schedules. Air Malta is committed to offer both all year round.”

The airline has also decided to increase the Summer 2010 frequency from 12 to 14 weekly flights.

"These decisions are Air Malta’s first steps to ensure that Malta has sustainable seat capacity available to the London area for the next 18 months," Air Malta said.

Earlier, Mark Moscardini, British Airways Commercial Manager for Italy and Malta said BA was suspending services to Malta.

"We are facing one of the harshest trading environments of our history. We continually review our business and make changes to our flight schedules to meet demand and we will only operate routes if they are profitable for the business. The suspension of the Malta to London Gatwick route is part of a company wide review of routes."

Customers booked to travel with British Airways after 25th October 2009, should contact British Airways on 800 62142 in order to have their ticket refunded.

This is the second time that British Airways had ceased operations to Malta. The first time was in the late 1980s, when it also cited costs. The London-Malta route was then taken over by British Airways franchise GB Airways. Last year GB Airways was taken over by Easyjet which also took over the London-Malta route, but British Airways had maintained the Malta-Gatwick route.

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Article © Allied Newspapers Ltd., printed on Tuesday, February 9, 2010. This article is for personal use only, and should not be distributed.

Comments

R Gatt (on 25/6/09)

@ J Mifsud - Allow me to make some corrections please:
Air Malta is one of the last bastions left by the Labour Party of the seventies and eighties which really helped the Maltese economy and employed thousands of (LABOUR) workers who followed Wistin Abela, Lorry Sant and such who earned good wages and fringe benefits........................

Melanie Wilberforce (on 24/6/09)

Speaking as someone who has had their flights cancelled by British Airways I think they're all twats. What they should have done was stopped flights from after the booking period so that those of us who had decided to use their services aren't left with the inconvenience and extra cost of booking flights with other airlines, if I'd have booked with Air Malta or another airline at the time I booked with BA I wouldn't be being charged an extra £75 to visit my family for Christmas. I will never be using BA in the future unless they are stupidly cheaper than another service or the only service available. Bunch of penny pinching bastards to stop flights at a time when people will be trying to see loved ones. I will be suggesting that no-one I know use BA for any of their flights, maybe then they'll have more 'regret' as they lose more money.

Janet Bayes (on 24/6/09)

BA cut flights, and Air Malta take over, what for? Easy Jet planes have vacant seats sometimes .
For goodness sake, when will Air Malta realise that not all roads to London also lead to Gatwick airport. Air Malta are happy to sell their seats on planes to tour companies in England - - but wont sell seats to the public unless its to London!! I dont want to go to London - - to an airport with no links to the east of England.
Stupid that Air Malta have flights from and to Norwich - - but not the other way!!

r micallef (on 24/6/09)

Air Malta 35 years and counting, no other airline is more commited to maltese people at home and abroad and if anything its the maltese people that hamper Air Malta profits by consistantly bad mouthing it and sucking up its assests to suit their own gains. LONG LIVE AIR MALTA, mintoff should be so proud

G.Debono (on 24/6/09)

Just a couple of words... LONG LIVE AIRMALTA AND THE MALTESE. VIVA MALTA U L'MALTIN* Greetings from Down under, wish i was there. George Debono (orig.from Gozo)

R.BORG (on 24/6/09)

@ Paul Smith....You are very wrong if you think that Airmalta has been subsidized by the Maltese taxpayer! On the contrary, AirMalta has been subsidizing the whole tourism industry for the last 35 years. If it wasn't for AirMalta, many of the still existing hotels and restaurants would not have even been built. The Maltese, especially those involved directly in the tourism business, should be more than grateful to AirMalta as no other airline operates routes at a loss but keeps operating to bring in tourists from vital destinations for our tourism industry! Pity that some of these same beneficiaries started rubbing their hands with joy when LCC started operating to Malta and started critisising AirMalta after all the immense service that they have been and are still getting from our national airline! Long live AirMalta!

K. Sapiano (on 24/6/09)

To all who keep complaining about our national airline I sincerely hope that you now realise and appreciate how important it is for our economy...airmalta has come and stayed since 1970's where 'other airlines' incliding mighty BA dropped us and left to fetch business elsewhere. I hope certain bloggers realise this when they call for 'other airlines'!

JPVELLA (on 24/6/09)

Too bad, like I am going to feel sorry for an airline that does not follow business ethics or rules. Let's face it, perhaps it was all those law suits that also played a major part in their losses, and oh, let's not forget their snobbery!!! Heaven help you if you need anything on board, or if you do not eat raw beef! They were always so high and mighty. I think Branson took'em to court for libel and won. And, why is it that other airlines refund the fuel surcharges and BA doesn't on cancelled tickets? Wonder where all that money is going?

They ASKED THEIR EMPLOYEES TO TAKE A 1MONTH LEAVE OF ABSENCE WITHOUT PAY...PERHAPS THEIR TELEPHONE SALES AGENTS WON'T BE SOOOOOOO RUDE TO TRAVEL AGENTS and CUSTOMERS ALIKE!

There are tons of airlines out there, and believe you me, LHR is no picnic!!!

A. Mifsud (on 23/6/09)

Whether we like it or not most (if not all) major carriers will have to terminate their services from here. Low cost carriers will eventually suffocate the traditional carriers, especially in a minute aviation market such as ours. Although I do favour fair and free competrition to all such news is no reason to rejoice. Low cost carriers have their nasty tactics of penetrating at heavily discounted airfares with the aim of eventually getting a monopoly when their competitors withdraw. Take the case of Ryanair wanting to buy off Aer Lingus in Ireland, the moment Ryanair manages the take over the Irish will get to know a new dimension of "low "cost travel. Let's all be very cautious on how much power these low cost carriers are allowed, or it can get to a very serious situation.

Mary Fisher (on 23/6/09)

Never mind! Their loss is our gain - that is if Air Malta play the right card and take over the trips themselves. Like they say : Every coud has a silver lining.

J Galea (on 23/6/09)

The problem with BA's flight from Gatwick to Malta was its awkward time. What would be ideal for some people is an 8pm evening flight to Malta from Gatwick but perhaps there is not enough of a market to sustain that route and the evening flight from LHR is sufficient.

E. Vella (on 23/6/09)

@Paul Smith
The government never subsidised Air Malta. It is Air Malta that subsidised the government by taking (or forced to take) excess staff and by operating non-profitable routes for the sake of tourism and to bring in voters during elections. The government only subsidises some low cost carriers by around 40euro per pax. As S. Falzon pointed out Air Malta cannot go on like this indefinitely - the reserves and all assets have almost completely dried up.

S. Camilleri (on 23/6/09)

@M.Pace... Yeah sure. More Airlines so instead of half full they fly quarter full!! Come on please

F.Bartolo Snr (on 23/6/09)

@Roger Boyle i simply don't believe a single word or promisies that RyanAir come up with past-present or Future? so there you have it in a nut shell. and i bet you that RyanAir's days are numbered, AIRMALTA will be there for us for ever and ever amen.As far as British Airways the Brits. Airline let us down twice , now i just wouldn't give them the time of day.

M. Pace (on 23/6/09)

I have taken this route a number of times in Winter last year, and believe it or not the airplane was always half empty - especially flying back to Malta. Prices sometimes were even cheaper than AirMalta and still the plane was half empty! Pity now they are stopping, since at least I had a choice from Gatwick which now I don't have anymore. I expect of course high prices of AirMalta now. And mind you, sometimes Easy Jet was even more expensive than BA and AirMalta! Pity! we need more AIRLINES!!!!!!!!

Paul Smith (on 23/6/09)

Airmalta and BA have two different business models. Air Malta has been subsidized by the Maltese tax payer as it has been an essential carrier conecting Malta to the outside world and bringing in much needed tourists, in fact i would go as far to say that Airmalta's role has been to bring tourists to Malta and in later years business peoples as well but mainly tourists. BA is a global airline that serves the entire planet. BA is technically bankcrupt, they have priced themselves out of the market, they have a couple of hundred million and may well go under in the near future. Richard Branson's Virgin Group is well placed to take European BA slots and would be a good strategic small partner for Airmalta - Airmalta get talking to the virgin group, they have flare for marketing and could make Malta a cheap and attractive place to visit. Virgin are itching to setup a low cost model like Ryanair but will do it so much better. Airmalta get talking to Richard and the Virgin Group!

Charles Micallef (on 23/6/09)

Could it be that the service that BA is providing is substandard hence the reason that they lost some 420 million pounds in the past financial year? We are sure that these loses were not accumulated because of the Malta – Gatwick route but because BA internationally is poorly run and poorly organized, remember Terminal 5? So it is not just Malta where “the Maltese do an excellent job in that area on their own in sabotaging tourism” It is something to do with recession which no one needs to highlight which where the leading country that started the ball rolling! If one has to call names, we shall not mention the fiasco of financial institutions in UK let alone the Members of Parliament……. One would have thought that Malta’s flight is the last that British Airways should have axed as it is perhaps the least of their worry, we do not expect any national airline that only want the good lucrative years, and as I said when the going gets “tuff’ they dessert us………………..!

Jean-Pierre Tabone Adami (on 23/6/09)

Cedric Busuttil - the reason why BA may drop the route even though their load factor (percentage of the plane they filled) is decent, is called YIELD. Due to LCCs on the route, BA cannot charge high fares. Since their costs are high, then they cannot make a profit. The LCCs can. Obviously the presence of LCCs is a boon for tourism, but not for BA. Cedric, there still is choice on the Gatwick route - KM and Easyjet compete. BA were the smallest player on the LGW route. They only have 5 weekly flights at the peak of summer. (Easyjet 9/week & Km even more). Roger Boyle - Ryanair dropped 2 less profitable routes, and opened 5 MORE - Trapani, Bari, Madrid, Edinburgh & Bristol. Hardly "abandoned", I say! Besides, under the right conditions, they would double their routes here by basing aircraft. The future of leisure travel (kid yourselves not - that's the destination Malta is) is with LCCs and full service carriers complementing each other. But in turbulent financial times, fewer people fly and those who do would probably rather choose LCCs. BA's loss fits this model.

J. Mifsud (on 23/6/09)

BA bye bye and good riddance. Hip hip hooray to Air Malta and its staff for really trying to keep its head above water in these troubled times. The government should do its utmost to help our airline keep going for the sake of tourism and all employees. Let us hope that Air Malta reduce its fares to attract more tourism to our Islands and the Maltese to travel to new horizons. Air Malta is one of the last bastions left by the Labour Party of the seventies and eighties which really helped the Maltese economy and employed thousands of workers who earned good wages and fringe benefits, although some good 'samaritans' used to refer to our National Airline as 'L-GHASAFAR TAC-COMB'

S.Falzon (on 23/6/09)

Prosit Francis Zammit Dimech!! This is all your doing. Your vision for local air travel is coming true. Your unfair subsidies to aggressive no-frill airlines came/comes at the huge expense of legacy airlines. No wonder you lost most of your followers! Next it will probably be Alitalia to pull out (it already has from Milan), and unfortanately, not too long from now, if our own government hedonistically keeps dishing out something like €40 per ticket (to certain carriers only) IT WILL be Air Malta that goes down for ever. STOP subsidising no-frills companies (and not our "golden geese") immediately

Mark Spiteri (on 23/6/09)

Airmalta are increasing flights to Gatwick to ensure that the UK route remains well served ... however we forget that Airmalta isnt increasing its fleet so these extra 2-3 flights will be taken out of some other route .... meaning tourism from UK wont be hit too badly but some other countries/routes will ... For those who "bash" Ryanair and Easyjet ... they are run at a profit year after year unlike British Airways and other national airlines so they're our best bet ...

Jos Vella (on 23/6/09)

when i was in my mid teens I had heard BA representative of that time that British Airways had come to Malta to stay. it is a pity that BA is leaving the 2nd time.

Cedric Busuttil (on 23/6/09)

@ Anthony Paris
According to your blog 'this is good news for Air Malta'
My question is!!! #'' Is this good news for consumers / clients pockest???? ''
Will this increase traffic to Gatwick??
Or it's now a no choice option?

Bill Millam (on 23/6/09)

Just a slight correction the article: When British Airways gave up the London-Malta route back in the 80s, it was actually Air Europe who took up their slots, albeit for a short while because they went belly-up later. GB Airways did not come into the picture until many years later.

Bill Millam
Los Angeles

Anthony Paris (on 23/6/09)

Perhaps someone will educate Minister Gatt who fought tooth and nail against Low Cost airlines, telling us they are not scheduled airlines like BA. Having said that, there is no point attacking BA. They have a product to offer, and they must have decided that Malta is not a market they choose to compete in. All in all, this is good news for Air Malta.

Cedric Busuttil (on 23/6/09)

My question is!!! How come BA is not doing any profit on MLA routes????? Indirectly my work is concerned ~ abided to BA and I know for sure that BA is carryiny approx 120 passengers 4 times a week. To make things better!!! from end June BA will be increasing it's flights to Malta Airport!!! ie will be working 5 times a week!! REALLY cannot understand!!!! During the low peak season this airline carried on with consistent pax figures! Where's the loss coming from?

Zap Branagan (on 23/6/09)

@Bertie O'Cassey Quote 1: In my opinion this is a direct sabotage to Maltese tourism. Please explain this. I'm sure your theory will be fascinating. Why is BA trying to sabotage Maltese tourism? Quote 2: Airmalta should step up to replace the flights done by BA as far as it is feasible. Did you even read the article? Even the headline says Air Malta is replacing the flights.

Roy Perry (on 23/6/09)

This is very sad news, not because I support the airline particularly but because BA Cabin Crew and check in staff have been exceptionally helpful to my disabled wife and I during the recent years. In addition they have carried my Guide Dog in the cabin with no fuss at all and at no extra charge, complying with an EU directive. It may be that Thmson will be the only carrier to do this after October as we cannot use RyanAir or EasyJet and Air Malta have still not signed an agreement with the UK Authorities. Not that we wish to leave the beautiful islands but family crises abroad may mean we have to.

carmel zammit (on 23/6/09)

others will follow cause they are losing cash from malta routes.now all of a sudden air malta is good.low cost my foot.better safe than stranded.our airline is the best.

Muscat.Pat (on 23/6/09)

This things happen day in day out, BUT if you own them you may have some other considerations, which ONLY you can can see. This is called strategy, or looking beyond the tip of your nose.

Roger Boyle (on 23/6/09)

@Pierre May I remind you that Ryanair ABANDONED TWO ROUTES IN LESS THAN TWO YEARS - Valencia and Bremen. And you will soon see it happen again on another route. And this from the Airline that brags about sustaining Malta's tourism industry.

Alfred Farrugia (on 23/6/09)

Has BA considered flying from Malta to Heathrow Terminal 5 at convenient times to be competitive? BA has removed its central customer service desk from London’s hub Heathrow Terminal 4! I was sent from Terminal 5 to Terminal 4 and back several times to make a connection after the flight from Washington, DC, was delayed because of fog in London.

Last December, the customer care officers at Terminal 5 wanted me to take the Airmalta flight the next day, and offered to pay for the transport and a night at the airport hotel. They claimed that the evening flight of Airmalta was fully booked. After I called Malta, I confirmed that there were vacant seats. After several arguments with BA supposedly “customer care officers” and a few hours later, the Alitalia desk which now handles Airmalta traffic, instead of KLM, “found” two seats, but informed me that there will not be any meals on board! Should Airmalta not have meals for full capacity, if it were fully-booked?

Eventually, I took the evening Airmalta flight and there were 16 to 20 vacant seats. Something is wrong in the communications between BA and Airmalta.

Moira Heath (on 23/6/09)

@Bertie @Charles
May I remind you that BA is not a voluntary organisation but a business that is there to make a profit. If people do not want the service, then no point providing it. There is no conspiracy to sabotage the maltese tourism (the maltese do an excellent job in that area on their own) and if BA can't run the route at a profit, I doubt Air Malta can. What Air Malta can do however, is whoop in delight cause there is less competition on the route.

Joe Grima (on 23/6/09)

Not surprising. BA is going under. Not a pleasant sight but there it is. This is the airline that is making its employees work for no pay in an attempt to keep its head above water. Air Malta shoud take up the slack and enter the field occupied by BA not by raising its prices, I hope, but by reducing further to attract more custom. Air Malta is our airline. It is the one we can always rely on while Ryanair continues to play an important role in attracting new and old customers to the Island.

Mary Bugejja (on 23/6/09)

This is an thorn in Malta's side, another one bites the dust. Bye Bye BA next i reckon will be RyanAir to come up with a second thorn for us. 2010 i hear according to the Dutch news is going to be one of the worst years in history,sacking and reorganisations are increasing by the hundreds everyday according latest news i have been receiving by family members., Hoping that our country will not be effected as badly as our eu partners.

Brian Maloret (on 23/6/09)

Not surprised by this news at all as British Airways must be one of the most expensive airlines in the world to fly with and there are other airlines on the Malta-UK route who are much cheaper.

Bertie O'Cassey (on 23/6/09)

In my opinion this is a direct sabotage to Maltese tourism. Airmalta should step up to replace the flights done by BA as far as it is feasible.

Charles Micallef (on 23/6/09)

When the going get tough............, BA desert Malta yet again!

K. Sapiano (on 23/6/09)

I hope that Airmalta management siezes the opportunity to tap into BA's market!

B Briffa (on 23/6/09)

No regrets. The timings were inconvenient.

J.Scicluna _ Rabat (on 23/6/09)

Where do the Air Malta bashers stand on this?

Now you all have the answer that foreign Airlines care nothing and owe nothing to Malta and our so-important Tourism Industry!

Air Malta has been there for all of us since it was set up 35years ago but "when the going gets tough, the TOUGH get going"!

Pierre (on 23/6/09)

Wasn't it Ryanair and the ''low-cost'' airlines that ''come and go'', ''leave when they feel like''....''abandon us'' when they dont make enough profits or when its not viable anymore for them?

Long live Ryanair!

Update 2: British Airways to stop Malta-Gatwick service - Air Malta to raise frequency

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