Matthew Xuereb
Air Malta plans to cut UK flights deemed worrying
‘Flight cost will go up’
A reduction of 12 Air Malta flights from three UK airports next summer could deal a major blow to the tourism industry, according to two of the main tour operators specialising on selling Malta in the UK.
Although sources close to the airline stressed that a final decision had not yet been taken, the schedule for summer 2011, which Air Malta sent to tour operators last week, had 12 flights missing, from three UK airports, slashing seat capacity from the UK, Malta’s main source market, by about 40,000 seats.
There are seven flights missing on 14 flights a week from Gatwick, three flights from Manchester and two from Birmingham. This could mean the loss of 300,000 bed nights, more than 10 times as many as had been added last year with a hyped-up measure that promoted sports-related conferences.
Questions sent to Air Malta last Friday regarding details of the planned cut in flights remained unanswered. However, in a statement last night, an airline spokesman confirmed the carrier “was looking at deploying its aircraft in the most profitable way”.
He also indicated Air Malta was looking into the possibility of new routes.
“The airline industry, in these turbulent times, is constantly looking at maximising the use of their fleet. It is normal business to have a route-by-route strategy and reassessing schedules on an ongoing basis. We are looking at existing routes and possible new ones to entice more return for Air Malta in these difficult times,” he said.
A spokesman for Chevron Holidays said such a drastic cut from the UK would “definitely” have serious repercussions on Malta’s tourism industry, especially with regard to seat prices.
“It’s not the hotels that are expensive in Malta or the cost of living. It’s Air Malta, which is inflating the price of packages we offer. The airline is saying some flights from the UK are not financially viable for it. But this cut means the seats on the remaining flights will go up and the British will simply go elsewhere,” the spokesman said.
A spokesman for another UK tour operator, Sunspot Holidays, said the reduction of flights from major UK airports was “worrying”, adding the cut alone meant close to 40,000 fewer passengers from the UK.
He said other countries, which the British were going for like Croatia, Turkey and Egypt, had better prices.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi steered clear from making any specific comment about the airline’s situation yesterday but said: “Air Malta has to take strategic decisions, which are necessary for it to address the financial situations prevailing in the world and continue its restructuring process that started six years ago. What happened in the past few years required Air Malta to be more aggressive in its restructuring, which will ensure the airline remained a success story.”
George Micallef, president of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, said such a decision could deal a major blow to the tourism industry, especially since it was affecting the country’s source market.
He said while hoteliers could not dictate what Air Malta should do, the association felt the main stakeholders should be kept in the loop to participate in discussions on mitigation measures.
“We understand Air Malta’s predicament but we should be involved in the decision-making process. We are very concerned as this leaves Malta with 40,000 fewer seats with all the implications this will have on the industry as a whole. We are talking about the UK, Malta’s main source market and a country that is already facing problems. Fewer seats will result in a heftier price on the remaining seats,” he said.
David Sergeant, from the association representing cabin crew, said he did not expect such a decision to affect the permanent cabin crew but part-time students employed over the summer months. He said the workload in summer increased by a good 70 per cent and this was why cabin crew was employed to work in summer.
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ken anderson
Oct 30th 2010, 10:12
we have travelled to malta 9 times now-the last time only last week...we have allways flown with air malta from newcastle in the uk.......this time it was with easy jet..apart from it been a case of first come first serve to get the seat you wanted...the rest was ok......the air malta flight's are at least twice as much to pay as the easy jet one's....in a lot if not most cases the economic's decide who you go with......best wishes to all in malta....
F. Abela
Oct 29th 2010, 08:38
Could offering a 40% shareholding in Air Malta to an international airline solve at least part of the problem ? We have to admit there is a problem. Regarding overstaffing, that may be the case and one could think about transferring some Air Malta staff to other government departments, authorities, local councils so that effectively no one would lose their job.
a.dalli
Oct 29th 2010, 11:57
One has to investigate other aspects.
Involve the staff - give them a stake in the company and stop political interferences.
Has outsourcing certain activities benefited Air Malta? Is everyone convinced that unit costs are cheaper than before?
a.dalli
Oct 28th 2010, 22:37
@Fred Beach.
Tour Ops set their own market prices and mark up. Some also threaten to leave the destination altogether if they do not have it their way. With feeble Governments or the likes of you they are out to feast.
As to Godfrey Grima - well said
Godfrey Grima
Oct 28th 2010, 20:24
Air Malta CEO may not have been completely right when he said that Malta is already reliant on low cost airlines after all. We all remember the fericious lobbying for low cost airlines headed by the MHRA 5 years ago. Now they are sh^tting in their pants at the rumour that Air Malta may downsize. You reap what you sow. Shame on you MHRA for being greedy and foolish. With their ever increasing ancillary charges how low cost are low cost airlines anyway?
a.dalli
Oct 29th 2010, 06:45
@ Godfrey,
It seems the venue has been determined, the music is chosen, all it requires is a dancing partner - perhaps KM LH.
Paul Caruana
Oct 28th 2010, 17:06
Like it or not, our only option then would be to encourage more low cost airlines to use the UK Malta route.
Chrissey Zammit
Oct 28th 2010, 16:55
Reduction of 12 flights from the UK. Two from Birmingham. LETS tell it as it is. Air Malta will NOT be flying from Birmingham after 30th April FULL STOP. I always fly Airmalta to Birmingham, this is going to cause many problems not just for me, but for many people who fly from Birminham to Malta many times a year.
@ Edwin Aguis.
WHAT !!! an attitude for a tour guide to have. Glad I dont have to use the services of a tour guide such as yourself.Maybe YOU wont miss the British, BUT you are in the minority thank goodness. Everytime I fly Airmalta to Birmingham the flight is ALWAYS full. Air Malta flights have always been very competitive if you are in the postion to book early enough. So the British will miss Air Malta. Try talking to the bar owners this time next year about their decline in buisness THEN and only THEN make your comments. Hope you are still in the same job this time next year !!!! somehow I dont think so with the decline. Happy Job Hunting!!!!!!
Edwin Aguis tour guide
Oct 28th 2010, 14:50
Well to be honestly i shalln't miss them at all, the British with their home problems tend to spend their holidays at home as oppose to coming over to our islands, so i don't think there will be much profit there for Airmalta, personally i would rather increase extra routes to mainland europe ie., France Germany and Holland and Italy, but as for the British market i think RyanAir will take over Also i do agree its not the hotels or guest houses that are expensive but AirMalta's package thats something else which needs to be looked into.
W Spencer
Oct 28th 2010, 17:09
If Air Malta is not interested in the British tourist, thats not a problem for the British tourist.
The tourists who presently fly with easyjet & Ryanair, will continue to do so, as they know that Air Malta has been overated and overpriced for years.
You can fool SOME of the people ALL of the time, and ALL of the people SOME of the time, but you cannot fool ALL of the people ALL of the time !! As the saying goes
Air Malta can concentrate on opening up more routes to combat the decline ( as stated in this paper on many occasions ) in tourists from France & Germany.
gordon lawrence
Oct 28th 2010, 13:47
the one thing that annoys me is that Air Malta do not fly direct from Glasgow now a three and a half hour flight, you can fly with BMI with a stop at london total time seven hours because of layovers, no wonder everybody is using Ryanair and Easyjet bye bye Air Malta you are going into the history books you bit the hand that feeds you
andrew harding
Oct 28th 2010, 12:40
As we fly regularly from Manchester this is worrying and yet another reason why the MTA should look after us regulars more and not take us for granted by giving free holidays to one off Spanish tourists yet ignoring those of us loyal visitors that spend 1000's of Euros in Malta each year and have visited the islands over 40 times, maybe if we came from Madrid or Barcelona we might be more appreciated.
T Camilleri
Oct 28th 2010, 11:56
I believe that this is another Shipyard saga in the making. The Shipyard was made to shed profitable areas to make it go bankrupt. The same is being planned for Airmalta so that it will then be sold cheaply to the private sector.
I hope that PL is aware of this and that it will prevent this from happening whatever the PN or the EU says.
M.Bezzina
Oct 28th 2010, 11:27
Taghalaq l AirMalta ...nifthu ohra !!!Tinkwetawx...minghajr it tarzna qed nghaddu, minghajr is SeaMalta qedin nghaddu u minghajr Airline maltija nghaddu wkoll.........Hekk qaluli meta konna qedin nissusidjaw min butna!! Jiddispjacini li min shabi hemm min jaghqla l hobzna ta kuljum imma memx tamel uhud minnhom jafu lil hobza qeda f riskju imma xorta ma ngergrux!!
Godfrey Grima
Oct 28th 2010, 20:47
Are you serious Mr Bezzina? Are you aware that Ryanair is being subsidized to the tune of somewhere in the region of €25 per passenger from our taxes? That's €20M per year if you beleive the passenger figures according to Ryanair. When did Air Malta ever suck that much from our coffers?
Gloria Evans
Oct 28th 2010, 11:19
Considering Malta is trying to promote tourism the cancellation of 12 flights by Air Malta to the UK is going to make things worse. The cancellation of both Birmingham flights will affect me personally, I have an apartment in Qwara and do four return flights a year. This means I will be giving up my apartment and staying home in the UK. It will also affect 100's more travellers who would normally fly out of Birmingham. Let's hope they have a re-think and fly at least once a week out of Birmingham.
samuel ramage
Oct 28th 2010, 18:07
As of the 15th. December this year Ryanair will be flying twice from Birminham to Malta.
Phil Humphries
Oct 28th 2010, 11:05
Correct me if I'M wrong, but aren't Gatwick and Manchester two of Air Malta's busiest routes?
In my opinion, reducing supply on these routes in order to increase prices is a serious misjudgement that threatens to harm the economy far more than Air Malta's current losses.
If AM thinks that it will fill fewer aircraft with passengers paying higher prices, then they have seriously mis-read today's UK market.
Yes, there is a substantial group of UK tourists who are loyal to Malta, but they are mostly an older group whose numbers are deminishing. The younger and the more discerning, higher spending tourists that MTA has worked so hard to attract need good reasons to spend their money in Malta, and if they perceive better value elsewhere, then that's where they will go.
And if AM thinks that the fall in demand for Club seats on these routes signifies fewer business travellers, then that's another mistake. It's 'superior' service simply doesn't warrant the higher price, so why pay it ?
Fact is, If there aren't enough seats for everyone, then someone misses out. Take your pick, Dr Gonzi - The Tourist or The Business traveller ? Either way, the economy suffers.
Lee Micallef
Oct 28th 2010, 10:42
By doing this it will mean the cheaper airlines eg Ryaniar/Easyjet will ultimatley get more of a monopoly , Although i much prefer Air Malta they are too expensive and beacause of lower cost i will have to rough it out on these lesser airlines.
Fred Beach
Oct 28th 2010, 11:23
One company can become a monopoly not two or more.Let the LCC fight it out amongst themselves much to the consumers benefit.Thats why the EU have competition rules to stop monopolies,by either state owned airlines or shareholder owned airlines.
Steven Saliba
Oct 28th 2010, 10:22
I fail to understand the big deal.
Morto un papa, si fa un altro.
If airmalta pulls out, easyjet and ryanair (and others) would be more than happy to step in.
Rather than pumping millions of euros down the drain through airmalta, we might as well have other airlines operating the routes profitably and efficiently against some sort of subsidy (still costing the Maltese taxpayer less than the losses at airmalta), BUT (more importantly) at much lower (and therefore more accessible) prices to the consumer.
Airmalta could in the meantime seek more lucritive markets such as Africa, Israel, and the Middle East.
Also, it is not a question of having full flights, but the bottom line. For example, one could have a full flight to Milan with tickets sold at an average of 35 euros each, registering a loss, while a half full flight to Tripoli, with tickets sold at an average of 350 euros each, can still register a profit.
The people in the know, and who are not afraid of the truth, and are above any interests they may have... they know what I'm talking about.
M Angerer
Oct 28th 2010, 11:38
L-akbar trux min ma jridx jisma'.
There's no greater deaf person that the one who does not want to listen...
Adrian Camilleri
Oct 28th 2010, 13:15
Not a very helpful reply Mr. Angerer.
Kindly explain your perspective.
Mr. Saliba obviously takes a free-market approach to the airline industry in Malta. I'd be interested in knowing what you think ? Should the government fully subsidize the national airline to ensure it continues to operate all of its flights regardless of whether they are profitable of not ? Are you happy that your tax money would be used that way ? Would you expect cheaper AirMalta flights as a result of that national subsidy ? Are those subsidies even legal now that we're in the EU ?
I'm not actually a free marketeer like Mr. Saliba. I actually think that some industries need to be protected by the government in order to safeguard our country's free access to the EU mainland and beyond as well as protect our tourism industry. I have however, had a hard time finding anyone willing to make a convincing argument in its favor.
gcForte
Oct 28th 2010, 10:16
Ghandi id dubji tieghi kemm l- Air Malta ser iddum tferfer b`dawn il hafna " low cost airlines " Biex tkompli taghqad il gvern Inglis ha dawk il mizuri drastici,bhal ma qeghdin jiehdu gvernijiet ohra fl` Ewropa.Il gvern flok ha din l-opportunita u dan is settur issahhu billi jghamlu aktar attrajenti sabiex jigbed aktar turisti, kompla ghaxxaqa lil tal lukandi, lir restoranti, u lil tal hwienet tax xorb. Ma kienx bizzejjed li kissirhom bil kontijiet tad dawl u l-ilma, u l-pizijiet li iridu igorru sabiex ikomplu mexjin, issa ghallilhom ix xorb ukoll. Turist ser ikun jaqbillu imur f`ahhar tad dinja milli jigi Malta, ghax ser nigu l-ghola pajjis gholi fid dinja.
Fred Beach
Oct 28th 2010, 10:02
It`s not the amount of seats that matter,you can increase/decrease them all you want. It`s filling them that count, if half the seats are empty it makes sense to reduce the number of flights. I know this much, if Air Malta were flying to capacity it wouldn`t be reducing flights. The sooner it`s privatised the better, you could even spend any monies on your roads and drains.
c falzon
Oct 28th 2010, 10:22
Privatised? R u joking? They should remove the surplus of managers and workers that the Nationalist Ministers had employed with Air Malta. Do you know that managers are given thousands of Euros for an early retirement??? AIR MALTA needs good management and not privatisation.
J Bugeja
Oct 28th 2010, 10:38
That is the price Malta has to pay for subsidising Ryanair and Easyjet. First it was Britishjet, then it was British Airways and now Air Malta.
Joe V Scerri
Oct 28th 2010, 12:06
I constantly use the Manchester route - for business purposes I should hasten to add - and over the past 2 years, winter or summer the flights are always full. So I cannot understand this step. In some cases, eg last week me and my colleagues had to switch to easyjet because the Airmalta flight to Manchester was full. So it's not a question of the low fare airlines biting into it. On the contrary I think that Airmalta let it slip for their hands. I might be wrong but I think that most of the loyal british tourists actually come from the north. I've been using this flight constantly for the past 5 years and the impression one gets is that the Manchester flight is like the ugly duckling (not sure we can use the term black sheep these days). Over the past years we;ve seen this schedule gradually getting worse and worse which is a big shame. As for measuring the business take on by nr of passengers taking business class - I don;t think that reflects the business travel patterns of the current times.
a.dalli
Oct 29th 2010, 09:05
U l lukandiera jidhqu. Ghalihom, tourist jigi fuq dar ta Hmar huwa turist. Ghax minnhom biss jimpurtahom.
Kemm nixtieq li konna dittatura.
a.dalli
Oct 28th 2010, 09:59
Sur Micallef, when has the MHRA ever involved Air Malta when establishing room rates. The MHRA was the prime mover to allow LCC to Malta.
Having said that, the discussion has to be on a much bigger scale, for if the present trend persists for any longer, product Malta may very well in the much shorter term be outpriceing itself.
Business is all about finding the right affordable equilibrium.
a.dalli
Oct 28th 2010, 09:35
One has to understand that Air Malta has its own costs to cover. AIR MALTA CANNOT ALWAYS SELL AT RATES DECTATED BY THE TOUR OPERATORS. MHRA please take note.
Fred Beach
Oct 28th 2010, 11:01
Prices are not dictated to Air Malta by the tour operators but by the market.