Malta stands to lose 28 flights per week from the UK by next March and these need to be recuperated somehow to maintain the tourism industry's record rosy picture.

Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association president Josef Formosa Gauci calculated that the sale of GB Airways to easyJet and the fact that BritishJET would no longer be operating would translate into the crucial loss of 28 flights per week.

Speaking at the release of industry survey results for the third quarter, which were "undisputedly very positive", Mr Formosa Gauci did not fail to warn about the possible negative prospects from the UK, one of Malta's core markets, which registered a 17 per cent growth in arrivals in the summer months.

BritishJET has taken 30,000 seats on Air Malta, which would translate into the loss of four flights from Gatwick and seven from the rest of the UK, while the sale of GB Airways to easyJet meant a loss of 10 flights a week from Gatwick and seven from Manchester on British Airways, adding up to 28.

They have not yet been replaced, Mr Formosa Gauci pointed out, saying that the Tourism Ministry and the Malta Tourism Authority were working hard to salvage the situation.

Discussions are underway with easyJet and British Airways, which would, hopefully, be persuaded to start operating to Malta, he said.

The ministry and the MTA were also in talks with other low-cost carriers.

While expressing optimism that the UK seat capacity issue would be resolved, Mr Formosa Gauci believed it was not going to be easy.

"We need to ensure that something does come out of these efforts," he said.

The "excellent" marketing campaign in the UK, which would hit TV from Boxing Day to May, and the positive trends the core market was showing would be useless if the issue was not resolved, he said, voicing concern about the dynamic and fast-changing industry that was not always within control.