Airport charges can be reduced but any such move cannot discriminate between airlines, Malta International Airport’s outgoing chief executive has said.

Julian Jaeger described MIA’s charges as being in line with the European average but confirmed the company was engaged in talks with Air Malta’s management to reduce them.

The charges have featured prominently in the Air Malta restructuring saga with pilots blaming the airport, among others, for milking the airline dry.

However, Mr Jaeger insisted that the €20 million Air Malta paid MIA last year only represented six per cent of the airline’s total costs. “We need Air Malta to have a future but it cannot be saved by focusing solely on airport charges,” he said when presenting the company’s half-year passenger results yesterday.

In the first six months, Air Malta was responsible for 48 per cent of passenger movements, making it the single most important carrier at MIA.

“We are in a position to offer reductions in airport charges but we can only do this in a way that does not discriminate between airlines,” Mr Jaeger said.

He was reluctant to quantify the possible impact on MIA if Air Malta’s restructuring cut the number of routes it serviced, insisting the company would have to find new operators and routes to compensate.

“It is Air Malta’s management that has to decide on the routes the airline will operate and we will act on their decision once it is known. Obviously, the reduction of the fleet to 10 planes will reduce seat capacity,” Mr Jaeger said.

The airport is forecasting 3.4 million passenger movements by the end of this year, an increase of 3.2 per cent over 2010.

Mr Jaeger said passenger movements in the first six months grew by 12.7 per cent. This also translated into higher aircraft movements (plus 4.4 per cent) and seat capacity (plus 6.8 per cent) when compared to the first half of last year.

The Libya crisis initially contributed to the higher numbers because of the thousands of people evacuated in February and March. However, the war brought about a drop in passenger movements from the Libyan market.

The carriage of cargo and mail registered a drop of 4.8 per cent, which Mr Jaeger attributed to lower tuna exports, a shift of pharmaceutical exports to shipping and the Libya crisis.

The core markets all registered an increase with the United Kingdom retaining its place as the top destination with an increase of seven per cent. Italy ranked second, registering an increase of 5.5 per cent, and the German and French markets posted significant increases of 21 per cent and 22.3 per cent respectively.

Mr Jaeger will move to Vienna Airport in September after being appointed a member of the management board where he will be responsible for the aviation segment. A successor has not yet been appointed.

Vienna Airport is a major shareholder in MIA.

Passengers carried

All figures for January-June period

Main source markets

Top five destination airports

All figures for January-June period