Airport charges in Malta, which have remained unchanged since 2006, amount to an average of €19.89, and are well within the European average, MIA said.

In a statement Malta International Airport said its charges were divided into fixed and variable.

The fixed were on the low side – and these include landing and parking, whereas the variable (passenger fees and security fees) are based on number of filled seats.

The company reiterated that the variable component was there to favour airlines as any business would like to have its costs tied with the number of clients.

This meant that MIA was taking the full risk with the airline – if airlines did not fill seats, they did not pay the variable charges.

The airline, MIA said, collected the variable charges directly from the passenger and passed them on to the respective airport operator.

So, although an airline was paying out an amount to an airport, this money never belonged to the airline and was billed separately to the customer.

This system was in use at all airports around the world and it was the system applied to Air Malta in all other airports it operated to.

The fees collected by airlines went towards the running of the terminal and the airfield at MIA.

MIA said it directly employed 375 people and a number of other employees depended on the airport through sub-contractors.

The livelihoods of these employees and their families depended on the success of the operation at MIA.

There were also running costs, costs related to security, safety, cleaning and maintenance as well as costs incurred to ensure that the airport was always kept to acknowledged high quality international standards.

The company categorically denied that Air Malta paid €375,000 just for renting out the pilots' briefing room from MIA.

It said the amount paid for rents by Air Malta to MIA in a year includes all the areas used by Air Malta at MIA, including the offices used by ground handling operations, the ticketing office and the flight operations.

"Malta International Airport has already gone on record – more than once – stating that it is conscious of the strategic importance of the national airline, not only for the local tourism industry, but more so for the national economy in general.

"MIA has always enjoyed an open and fruitful relationship with Air Malta, and has already started discussions with the new management, to seek non-discriminatory ways how to support a viable and successful future for the national airline," it said.