Ryanair has launched its Malta winter 2015 schedule with a new route to East Midlands and more flights to Madrid.

The Spanish capital will receive two to three flights per week from Malta, and the low-cost airline has brought its total number of routes to the Maltese islands to 21.

Ryanair will take over flights from East Midlands Airport after Monarch Airlines pulled out of its former base this month.

It claims the winter timetable will help bring more than 1.1 million people to Malta per year.

A new route to East Midlands brings total to 21

The winter schedule has gone live three months earlier than it did in 2014.

In line with the airline’s makeover to attract more business and family travellers and shake off its ‘cut-price’ reputation, people who book Ryanair flights now get free allocated seating – rather than endure a scrum to sit with fellow passengers – and are allowed to take a second small carry-on bag without charge.

Other changes include lower fees, mobile boarding passes and a revamped website.

In Malta, Ryanair’s sales and marketing manager Maria Macken said: “Ryanair is pleased to launch our biggest ever Malta winter 2015 schedule.”

Ryanair celebrated the launch of its Malta winter 2015 schedule with a one-day sale of100,000 seats across its European network, at prices from €19.99.