Flight cancellations take their toll on national carrier

Air Malta refers to the letters by Moya Day and Paul James Smith entitled Flight Missed On Lack Of Information (April 24).

During the recent volcanic disruption, Air Malta maintained a constant contact both with the media and with its customers. The airline's website was being updated on a 24/7 basis to reflect the latest updates of cancelled flights and extra relief flights that were being operated by Air Malta.

It is unfortunate to note that Ms Day blamed Air Malta for the lack of information when this was clearly not the case as highlighted below.

The official information of airspace restrictions and similar notices that all airlines follow, including Air Malta, are carried in the Notices to Airmen (Notams). During the night between Tuesday, April 20 and Wednesday, April 21, the notice that the UK airspace was opened was received at 10.15 p.m.

Soon after receiving this Notam, Air Malta immediately started coordinating its efforts in order to start operations to the UK. Among other things, before commencing operations, Air Malta, like all other airlines, had to apply for landing slots and get them approved.

At about midnight, Air Malta contacted The Times to inform it that the airline was operating its UK-bound flights the next morning. The Times website was in fact immediately updated at 00.02 a.m. to reflect this news.

By 00.45 a.m. Air Malta had secured the slots of its scheduled flights to London Heathrow and Gatwick as well as two extra relief flights to Gatwick to alleviate the backlog.

Fifteen minutes later, at 1 a.m., Air Malta issued a media statement with the flight timings of the four confirmed flights. This statement was also immediately posted on its website.

Throughout the week of the crisis, Air Malta issued a total of 24 media statements and immediately updated its website with the latest information on the cancelled flights as well as on the 65 extra relief flights to Rome, Graz, Marseilles, Zurich, Toulouse and London Gatwick the airline organised to minimise inconvenience to its passengers.

These updates were also being sent to the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Associations (MHRA) that helped Air Malta in no small way to disseminate information to hotels to inform their clients on the developing circumstances.

During the crisis, Air Malta beefed up its resources at customer contact points. Air Malta's airport sales office, which remains open 24/7, had a full complement of frontline staff that had the backing of additional staff from the head office. The call centre was also beefed up with additional staff and extended its services from 5 a.m. till midnight.

Air Malta has honoured all tickets issued by it as well as those issued by code-sharing partners and offered its passengers free re-booking on any Air Malta-operated scheduled flight or full refund of tickets.

The preliminary estimate of the financial impact of the crisis on the airline runs into approximately €3.5 million in lost revenue alone. Additional expenses are still being evaluated.

Airlines have had to bear the brunt of this unprecedented natural phenomenon and there are now major financial repercussions on the airline industry. Airline associations, including the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Association of European Airlines (AEA), are undertaking discussions with the various authorities involved with a view to providing guidance to airlines as to how to deal with passenger care-related issues in the circumstances.

Air Malta empathises with its clients who had their flights cancelled. However, it has done its utmost to minimise inconvenience to passengers in circumstances totally beyond its control.