Air Malta has denied allegations that it is selling its slots at primary airports including Heathrow and Gatwick as part of its restructuring plan.
Chief executive Peter Davies said: "Air Malta's airport slots at primary airports including Heathrow and Gatwick are not for sale. The sale of slots is not even mentioned in the restructuring plan presented to the EU Commission and this option is not being considered. Both destinations continue to be key strategic routes for Air Malta."
Mr Davies said the European Commission's strict restructuring guidelines dictated that an airline, which is a beneficiary of state aid, needed to take 'compensatory measures' that could take the form of divestiture of assets, a reduction in capacity or market presence or a reduction of entry barriers.
Air Malta's restructuring plan refers to release of slots at foreign coordinated airports in line with reduced flight capacity and represents additional compensatory measures offered to the benefit of other market participants.
In this context only one flight rotation to Heathrow was last summer reduced on the unpopular Saturday evening flight.
A double daily service was still being offered on Heathrow while a daily service to Gatwick remained unchanged.
Overall, in line with the EU's 'compensatory measures' requirement, the plan will see Air Malta reduce overall capacity by 20.2 per cent throughout its network.
A 10 per cent reduction in capacity has already been achieved last summer between April and October. Another 10 per cent reduction will be achieved this year.
Mr Davies said that reduction in capacity last summer did not affect passenger numbers and the seat factor was increased by 10 per cent last summer.
This result has offset the reduction in capacity and the airline carried 1.75 million passengers with less flights and reduced costs.
"Our plan, which adheres to the strict Commission's Community Guidelines on State Aid for Rescuing and Restructuring Firms in Difficulty, aims at finding the right balance between the Commission's requests, the need for the airline to operate on a sound commercial footing and to minimise any impact on local tourism operators."