Ryanair will be operating nine new routes from Malta from next summer, bringing its total number of destinations up to 36 – two more than Air Malta.
The airline announced yesterday that it will be adding flights to Baden, Berlin, Cologne and Dusseldorf in Germany, Gdansk and Poznan in Poland, Manchester, Rome and Budapest.
It is also increasing the frequency of its flights to Birmingham to three times weekly, Edinburgh to five weekly and London to daily.
Ryanair’s director of schedule development Colin Casey said the move, which will also see an additional aircraft based in Malta, would create 150 new “on-site” jobs at Malta International Airport.
He confirmed that there were currently no plans to reintroduce direct flights to Seville, Spain,which were axed due to lack of demand.
The expansion places added pressure on Air Malta, currently in final stages of restructuring
The new routes are expected to cater for an additional 400,000 passengers a year, bringing the total up to 1.5 million.
The expansion places added pressure on Air Malta, currently in the final stages of a five-year restructuring plan agreed upon with the European Commission to save the national airline from bankruptcy.
Asked whether the situation was being taken into consideration by Ryanair, Mr Casey said the airline was focused on its own performance and wished Air Malta well, adding that Ryanair was open to any discussions with the government. He also announced that Ryanair would soon launch a new personalised website service as part of its goal of transforming the airline into “the Amazon of the travel industry”.
The website will include a new “hold the fare” option, which will allow customers to reserve a seat at a given fare against an additional charge.
The airline will also be embarking on a redesign of its cabin crew uniforms and aircraft interiors, ditching the loud blue and yellow colour schemes for a more subtle blue and white design.
Ryanair will release 100,000 seats for sale at fares starting from €19.99. These fares will become available for booking until midnight tonight.