Low-cost airline Ryanair will be introducing seven new routes to Malta in May including flights to London’s Stansted airport four times a week.
We will deliver over one million passengers and sustain over 1,000 jobs
This will bring to 28 the total number of Ryanair routes to the island, with deputy CEO Michael Cawley saying the airline aims to bring over a million passengers within the year.
The routes include Bournemouth and London (Stansted) in the UK, Kaunas in Lithuania, Malmo in Sweden, Oslo (Rygge) in Norway, Turin in Italy and Wroclaw in Poland.
The London flights will operate four times a week while the rest will run twice a week.
“As Ryanair’s Malta base grows to 28 routes... (we) will deliver over one million passengers and sustain over 1,000 jobs at the airport and on the island,” Mr Cawley said.
Research showed that every one million passengers created some 1,000 jobs in and around an airport, ranging from drivers to cargo handlers, he said.
Ryanair had registered constant growth since it started operating to Malta in 2006. They key to this success, he pointed out, were the low fares and guarantee that there would be no fuel surcharges.
Mr Cawley said the average Ryanair ticket cost €50, compared to €71 for Easyjet, €125 for Air Malta, €244 for Lufthansa and €248 for British Airways.
This meant Ryanair passengers had more to spend in Malta as they saved money on their flights. Ryanair operates a total of 1,300 routes and 50 bases in 27 countries.
Philip Fenech, president of the tourism section of the Malta Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU, welcomed the development. He said it augured well for further tourism grown since the more access there was to Malta, the more tourists arrived.
The Malta Hoteliers and Restaurants’ Association was equally pleased. “These new routes will mean 16 extra flights a week, which for the summer alone are expected to generate an average of 45,000 additional tourist arrivals, given the high utilization rate usually registered by the airline,” MHRA president Tony Zahra said.
The association said the news was very encouraging for all tourism players and for the country, as it came at a time when the industry was concerned about the potential negative effects on tourism as a result of the economic pressures prevailing in Europe, which represents Malta’s main source markets.
To celebrate the new routes, Ryanair has issued a seat sale and flights will cost €9.99 for travel across Europe in late February.