Air Malta recently moved into a new era, by offering a more streamlined service and city breaks at reasonable prices.
This tiny country, with its sister island, Gozo, struggled to come to terms with its horrendous wartime experiences. Now, Air Malta is offering a bright new future for this jewel of the Mediterranean, having joined the major league with brilliant strategic skill and determination.
The first six months of 2008 saw a well-deserved increase in arrivals, to over half a million visitors, breaking Malta's own record. The figures might seem as nothing to the ‘big boys', but for such a tiny island the numbers are amazing, a tribute to the astuteness of Air Malta's marketing decisions, which are spot-on!
Of the extra 77,000 passengers - mainly enticed by Air Malta's new pricing and destination packages - a staggering 57% of them were brought in by the airline. That's a 15% higher uptake than the same period last year.
Over the eight months up to June 2008, double-figure growth was constant, at a time when many larger airlines were experiencing problems, because of ‘green' taxes, fuel costs, etc. In June the traffic expanded by 13%.
Air Malta's Chief Officer (Commercials), Dr Brock Friesen, said: "In the first half of the year the Maltese airline has yet again consolidated its position as the preferred airline amongst visitors from all European countries of origin." As a personal note, I have travelled to Malta on several airlines, but found the Air Malta crews tremendously friendly and helpful, fostering more of a family atmosphere.
Dr Friesen believes that continuous refinement of pricing, new advertising and direct sales, have all contributed to Air Malta's success. This has been coupled with up-to-date management & computerised systems, all just as essential as obvious marketing. Added to this has been the new policy of concentrating more effort on richer markets.
For me, and many in Europe, one of its ‘best-buys' is the new approach to affordable city-breaks, something that had been missing from Air Malta's portfolio until recently. Peak months for Malta always show a very high tourist uptake, so city break-style offers will fill the winter gaps (when there is still plenty of sunshine).
So far there are over 200 European hubs, as Air Malta teams up with other airlines (code-share agreements), so the company's network is expanding steadily. Other countries are being added to the list regularly.
In June of this year, Air Malta signed a code-share agreement with Turkish Airlines, opening up flights to Istanbul, thus increasing the number of connections to other countries. Now, through Turkish Airlines, Air Malta can access Asia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Far East and the Middle East.
Like some other airlines, Air Malta has introduced web check-in and seat selection, up to 23 hours before departure. The internet portal is clear, easy to use and transparent, with no hidden charges. Over 20% of tickets are sold by internet. And Expedia has linked-up with Air Malta to provide an extensive and comprehensive hotel-booking system. A good deal all around, promising both Air Malta and Malta a fantastic slice of the action!
Barry Napier
Travel and Hotel Journalist
barry.napier@ntlworld.comContacts: stephen.a.gauci@airmalta.comURL: www.airmalta.com 
