Air Malta among least hit airlines in 2009

Air Malta's drop in passengers last year was one of the lowest among 28 European airlines, according to figures released by the Association of European Airlines (AEA).

The national airline experienced a drop of 2.6 per cent in passengers last year compared with 2008, while the 28 association members suffered an average drop of 5.8 per cent.

Three airlines registered an increase in passenger numbers - Turkish Airlines by more than 12 per cent, Malev Hungarian Airlines by 3.6 per cent and Swiss International Airlines by 2.4 per cent.

Among those registering a drop in passengers, only Czech Airlines registered a smaller decrease in passengers than Air Malta, meaning the national airline ranked fifth in terms of passenger number performance.

The top three losers were Ukrainian airline Aerosvit, with a 26.2 per cent drop, British Midland Airways (BMI), which saw passenger numbers go down by 20.3 per cent, and Serbian national airline Jat Airways, which experienced an 18 per cent drop.

The AEA said recently its members registered a 20-million passenger drop last year, more than the annual loss of 14 million in 2002, following the September 11 attacks.

Air Malta chief executive Joe Cappello said the decrease in the number of passengers in 2009 was expected because it was a difficult year for business, fuelled by an economic recession.

But he praised the national airline's performance: "Considering the international scenario, our record 2008 results and the intense competition we have on the Malta routes, we believe we have registered a relatively good year in terms of passenger numbers."

Air Malta' fuel bill has more than tripled, rising from €26 million in 2003 to €86 million in the financial year 2008-2009.

In spite of this increase, the average cost of Air Malta's flight tickets dropped by 13 per cent in the past six years, according to Mr Cappello.

He said although airlines traditionally cut on capacity in difficult times, last year Air Malta operated an extra aircraft to increase seat capacity to Malta.

This was confirmed by AEA figures, which showed that while airlines decreased their capacity by an average of 4.2 per cent, Air Malta increased it by 4.6 per cent.

Mr Cappello said Air Malta's increase in seat capacity helped minimise the effects the recession was having on tourist arrivals. He drew a comparison with budget airlines, which are subsidised to operate routes, saying Air Malta had to incur the increased costs to operate the extra plane.

Last year, Air Malta made 2.3 million seats available, more than 400,000 more than in 2008, and carried more than 1.5 million passengers.

Only three other airlines - Turkish Airlines, Tarom Romanian Air Transport and Croatia Airlines - increased capacity.