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5 INTERVIEW 30.07.2020 local tourism volumes post-COVID craft onto Malta's aviation register, but we've actually ended up putting 120 planes, having probably been cautious in our initial estimation. Malta Air basically replaced Ryanair as the operation in Germany, Italy and France, so we've had to move aircraft from one register onto another, and transfer staff. We weren't sure how long this would take. erefore, we didn't want to over- promise last year, but we've fully deliv- ered. In 2019, we were carrying over three million passengers to and from Malta, and this is what we are looking to in- crease. We currently have six aircraft based on the island, and our target is to retain these and to increase them over time. At this stage, we are confident that Malta Air is the airline which can re- store passenger traffic volumes to Mal- ta. All other airlines are cutting their capacity, including Air Malta, EasyJet, Lufthansa, Air France and KLM. On the other hand, we're committed to retaining capacity, and we're the ones who can deliver the growth for Malta. Has there been any change to Malta Air's route network? And are there any new routes planned for Malta? As we discussed, we're back to 40% capacity in July, with 70% expected in August – but we're still serving 90% of all routes. Our coverage of routes is very close to what it was, but the fre- quencies are a bit less. We're currently serving 44 routes arriving into Malta, and this will increase to 50 next month. e Ryanair network serves over 200 airports, and we have 86 bases. is means the number of potential route combinations is huge. We try different routes all the time, so we can poten- tially increase significantly the num- ber of destinations in to Malta. Not all of them might perform well, so we could try them out for a few months, and then renew them for the follow- ing season, or pull them depending on their success. I can't name exact new destinations now, but I can say that we've expanded our coverage recent- ly into places like Israel, Jordan, Ser- bia, Ukraine and Cyprus. A lot of new routes typically come from countries which we already serve, but we add dif- ferent airports. Things do not seem as dire as some might have feared in the middle of the pandemic. Would I be correct in saying you sound cautiously optimistic? I think cautiously optimistic would describe it well. Demand has taken a hit, and it will take some time to correct itself. But we are being positive in two ways. Firstly, we're maintaining our ca- pacity and our employment. Secondly, we're pricing cheaply in order to boost traffic. ere is still some way for the aviation to go in order to recover previ- ous profitability, but we're focused on that path and we have the strength to withstand the crisis. Of course, nobody knows how the coronavirus will continue to affect us. Hopefully, future measures won't be as drastic as they were in the past months, and lockdowns can be more specific to certain areas rather than entire coun- tries. We'd like to see it managed in that way. We also prioritise safe flying on the airlines through the wearing of masks, and so on. I think the Maltese government re- acted fairly quickly when the pandemic came. It then reopened its airport on 1 July and removed all flight restrictions on the 15 July – I feel this could have been done a bit sooner. But the island is open for business, and we're glad to be back. Do you think low-cost airlines are better-placed than legacy airlines to bounce back from the pandemic's effects? ere are two aspects to this. In gen- eral, low-cost airlines are better posi- tioned to respond because they have stronger balance sheets and have a bet- ter business model. Also, legacy car- riers tend to be reliant on inter-conti- nental traffic. ey normally feed their hubs with short haul aircraft, and the hubs then fly inter-continental. In- ter-continental traffic has been devas- tated, and it will be the last to recuper- ate. Legacy carriers are worst affected from a long-haul perspective, and the economics of their short-haul routes is also based on their long-haul opera- tion. In that sense, they're worse posi- tioned than low-cost carriers. On the other hand, legacy airlines are the recipients of vast amounts of state aid. Lufthansa, Air France, KLM and Alitalia are receiving billions in state aid. State aid is unfair and contrary to EU rules, but it goes ahead anyway. at keeps legacy carriers afloat and enables them to compete with airlines like Ryanair and Malta Air, which have to rely on their own resources. Nobody knows how the coronavirus will continue to affect us. Hopefully, future measures won't be as drastic as they were in the past months, and lockdowns can be more specific to certain areas rather than entire countries. We'd like to see it managed in that way

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