A full week of promotion on the popular Canale 5 television programme La Ruota della Fortuna saw Air Malta's bookings from the Italian market doubling last month.

The promotion did not take the form of a proper advert but consisted of a one-minute presentation by well-known Italian television personality and programme presenter Enrico Papi. The footage used for the promotion was shot by National Geographic.

Air Malta's marketing general manager Brian Bartolo described the week-long advertising campaign as more successful than expected. He said that at the same time a short spot was airing on the TG5 Mattina programme.

There was another sponsorship of a news programme lined up for next week and then another one after the ferragosto (mid-August) period.

Mr Bartolo said the "Papi promotion", as it was known, was aired at prime time, 8.45 p.m., with an estimated viewership of about 11 million. Air Malta had also embarked on an aggressive internet advertising campaign, which was very successful in Germany and France, among others. Last week, he said, the airline sent out over one million e-mail shots to the core markets.

With regard to online booking engines, Mr Bartolo said the airline witnessed a substantial increase in May in core markets such as Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium and Holland.

However, despite such encouraging signs, the airline continued to remain "cautiously optimistic" on bookings for the upcoming summer season.

He said it was evident that this year, in view of the global economic scenario, people were booking their holidays closer to the date of departure so no comparisons could yet be drawn with previous years.