Air Malta Banks On Strong Summer Season

Credit: Rob Finlayson

Air Malta, the flag-carrier for the Mediterranean island nation, will resume flights to London Gatwick (LGW) and Madrid (MAD) as part of a robust summer season schedule.

The carrier, which connects Malta (MLA) to continental Europe with flights to 10 countries, said it will operate 125 weekly flights during the seven-month period from this week to Oct. 29. MLA-LGW service will be operated daily, while the MLA-MAD route will be flown 3X-weekly.

Air Malta is already operating 15X-weekly service to London Heathrow (LHR), so the LGW route will bring total MLA-London flights to 22X-weekly for the carrier’s summer season. Other notable airports to which Air Malta will fly during its summer season include Munich (MUC) with 12X-weekly service; Rome (FCO) with 10X-weekly flights; Paris Orly (ORY) with 9X-weekly service; Paris Charles De Gaulle (CDG) with daily flights; and Amsterdam (AMS) with daily service. The MLA-AMS route will increase to 8X-weekly from July through October.

“This ambitious flight schedule demonstrates our strong belief that travel and tourism will bounce back this summer,” Air Malta executive chairman David Curmi said in a statement. “We are effectively doubling our operational capacity over this past winter.”

Curmi added: “Our focus will remain on our core markets at the key main city airports of the UK, Italy, Germany and France, whilst we will maintain our commitment, and indeed grow it, on other established routes.”

Air Malta chief commercial officer Roy Kinnear noted that “markets have already started showing signs of recovery with increased booking activity registered over recent weeks.”

Kinnear said the carrier’s fleet—comprised of four Airbus A320ceos and four A320neos—is “back to full utilization at pre-COVID levels.”

Aaron Karp

Aaron Karp is a Contributing Editor to the Aviation Week Network.