Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1096093
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 MARCH 2019 NEWS €1.2 million in profit for Air Malta after 18 years of losses DAVID HUDSON TOURISM Minister Konrad Mizzi has announced that Air Malta made a profit of €1.2 million, after a loss of €10.8 million in 2017. This translates to an increase in revenue to €197 million. "It is a proud moment that after years of Air Malta losing money year after year, it finally registered a hefty profit," he said, adding that this profit did not include the buying of slots but came from the sales of tick- ets and the "better control" of Air Malta's operations. "Air Malta means a lot for the Maltese. The airline is the lifeline of our country. The re- ality is that pre-2013, the air- line was facing big challenges, a situation we don't want to go through again," he said. Mizzi was speaking at Air Malta's AGM. In 2018, Air Malta increased its revenue by €5.3 million to a total of €197.5 million mainly driven by an 11% increase in passengers. Air Malta's Chief Financial Officer Omar Bonello attrib- uted this positive performance to better aircraft utilisation and the implementation of a new sales strategy, the investments in IT technology, the signing of all four collective agree- ments with unions aimed to give a strong base for increased productivity, flexibility and in- dustrial peace stability and the negotiation of more "favour- able" terms with the airline's suppliers. Mizzi said that it was a ques- tion of "having a vision, strong leadership, perseverance and determination. "This is a tribute to the em- ployees. As a country, we don't have any oil or gas but we have a pool of talented people who strive for success." Air Malta CEO Clifford Chetcuti said that Air Malta had been awarded the CAPA turnaround airline of the year in 2018, adding that, "this is not the time to be complacent. Whilst there are challenges with fluctuating fuel prices and increases competitive pressures, we have shown that growth is still achievable." Air Malta increased its capac- ity by 20% in 2018, with Paul Sies, the airline's Chief Com- mercial Officer, saying that new routes generated an increase of €12 million in revenue. "During this financial year, the airline implemented a new Revenue Management, new unbundled pricing with the launch of the Go Light, new sales strategies, and developed the new buy-on-board prod- uct," he said. Air Malta sold 934,488 Go Light tickets with 2019 show- ing strong bookings already, Sies said. "In fact, this is 11% ahead of the previous financial year with an identical fleet and staff. It is 44% ahead of the pre- vious two years." He said that April and June were especially showing high growth with April being 17% up from the previous year. During the conference, he announced that as from next month, Air Malta will be launching its new business class service where passengers will be offered new gourmet menus presented in traditional Maltese crockery. The highlights of the airline's summer schedule will be the increased frequency flights to Paris, Hamburg, Kiev, London, Heathrow, Lyon, Munich and Tunis. "After an absence of 12 years, Air Malta is planning to resume flights to Egypt's capi- tal, Cairo, and for the first time the airline will also offer sched- uled services to and from War- saw," Sies added. Air Malta Chairman Charles Mangion said, "Air Malta has been here for 45 years and I as- sume that we all wish Air Malta will be here, stronger and bet- ter, 45 years from now." Mizzi concluded by saying that he dreamed of seeing Air Malta flights landing in JFK airport in New York, in Dubai, and other countries near and far. "I dream of seeing passen- gers being taxied from their flight in vehicles sporting the Maltese cross," he said. Air Malta is currently carry- ing out studies to expand des- tinations to Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. 2020 will also see the first announcement of the airline's first African route. Mizzi said that while Air Malta was competing with low-cost airlines like Ryanair, these same low-cost airlines were contributing to Malta's success. "Air Malta is in a strong posi- tion right now but Ryanair flies to 160 different destinations, recently adding Amman in Jor- dan to its routes. Ryanair is im- portant to us as well," he said, adding that Air Malta would keep focusing on its main Mediterranean routes and Eu- ropean routes for now. Mizzi said that tests that had been carried out proved that Air Malta would be better off focus- ing on business class travel. "Ryanair doesn't offer a busi- ness class service but offers flights to many different coun- tries. Malta needs both. Rather than being in direct competi- tion, I feel that both airlines should complement each oth- er. After all, Air Malta is begin- ning to define its own position in the market," he said. The tourism minister insisted that low-cost airlines were not benefitting from cheaper land- ing fees based on the Route Support Scheme for airlines which fly to under-served air- ports. "This is a misconception. Ry- anair and other low-cost air- lines do not benefit from any subsidies on landing fees," he said. Mizzi attributed Air Malta's 2018 success to the labour capital involved. "Our main resource is people, people who believed in change and were very agreeable: from the bag- gage handlers to the cabin crew, the engineers and all the technicians, they all helped to achieve this remarkable result." Konrad Mizzi said that while Air Malta was competing with low-cost airlines like Ryanair, these same low-cost airlines were contributing to Malta's success "Our main resource is people, people who believed in change and were very agreeable