Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/751614
3 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 16 NOVEMBER 2016 News Thursday TVM 20:50 Tourism minister mum on possible subsidies granted to Ryanair PAUL COCKS RYANAIR'S chief commercial of- ficer David O'Brien and Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis refused to comment on any subsi- dies which the low-cost airline was receiving from Malta. The two also refused to comment on the impact which the low-cost airline could have had on Air Malta and its financial woes. Speaking during an event to mark Ryanair's 10 years of operations in Malta, O'Brien said: "We do not recognise the word subsidies and I can only say that we have paid money into Malta." "I think our continued invest- ment in Malta shows how much money we have put into Malta." Zammit Lewis too would not commit himself: "I cannot confirm anything. I am not saying that we do not, but nor am I saying that we do." When asked by MaltaToday if he felt Ryanair operations in Malta may have added to Air Malta's woes, O'Brien said that he did not know the national airline's current position. "I do not know where Air Malta is today, but I think it is in the same place it always was. But I will say this: the status quo is never an op- tion in this business, and change is inevitable." O'Brien also pointed out that Ry- anair competed directly with Air Malta only on a number of routes. These destinations include Air Malta's most popular routes, such as London, Rome, Brussels and Catania. As to how what he thought of Air Malta's possible partnership with Alitalia, he said the Italian airline did not feature in Ryanair's plan- ning. On Monday, Zammit lewis said that he would divulge more information on Air Malta's falter- ing talks with Alitalia in the com- ing weeks. Ryanair to become 'Malta's national airline'w O'Brien said that Ryaniar was projecting to be delivering 2.1 mil- lion passengers through Malta International Airport by 2017 and that the airline would be invest- ing another €104 million for a new Boeing 737-800 which will be based in Malta, bringing the num- ber of aircraft based in Malta up to four. "This will make us almost Malta's national airline," he quipped. O'Brien said the airline would also be increasing the number of routes accessible from Malta up to 42 and that the number of weekly flights would also increase, up to more than 140. Six new summer routes – to Brus- sels Zaventem, Catania, Nurem- berg, Touluse, Valencia and Vilnius – will be introduced next year. He said that Ryanair continued to sup- port Malta's strategy of promoting year-round tourism and that was why it was continuing to invest in Malta. Zammit Lewis said the country needed to attract more airlines to Malta, as this also helped to make Air Malta more competitive in this scenario. To celebrate the anniversary, Ry- anair announced it was offering seats at €19.99 for travel between April and June 2017 to 14 major European cities. The offer closes at midnight on Friday, 18 November. 'You mean the minister's left already?' In what appeared to be an attempt to avoid journalists, Zammit Lewis disappeared without notice leaving O'Brien alone to cut the cake. Zammit Lewis was invited by Ry- anair to celebrate Ryanair's 10-year anniversary in Malta. But O'Brien was left asking "You mean the min- ister's left already?" as he prepared to cut a celebratory cake alone. Zammit Lewis, who has so far failed to deny or confirm whether the talks between Air Malta and Alitalia have failed, avoided jour- nalists who were waiting to inter- view him, leaving the VIP terminal at the Malta International Airport through a secondary door. Following the press conference, the minister was seen calling a La- bour media journalist and camera crew into an adjoining room for comments, but then left from a secondary door. He had been in- formed beforehand that journalists would be seeking one-on-one on- camera comments. Ryanair's chief commercial officer David O'Brien (right) said the low-cost airline is set to become "Malta's national airline" Boarding school ordered to refund €58,000 to parents after shutting down MATTHEW AGIUS A boarding school for Russian- speaking children and adoles- cents has been ordered to re- fund over €58,000 that had been paid in advance by the mother of a student, shortly before the school abruptly announced it would be closing down. Iulia Samunina filed her claim against the St Paul's Bay-based RBSM Boarding School in July this year, after having paid the exorbitant tuition fee in ad- vance, last year, at the school's request. In January, Samunina and all the other parents of the school's students had received a let- ter from the school, informing them that the school would be closing down and would be un- able to provide educational ser- vices to their children. Several requests for an explanation went unanswered, but eventually Sa- munina was informed that the school was unable to continue to operate due to financial prob- lems. The school director had sent a letter to the woman on 12 Janu- ary, acknowledging the debt and proposed to repay by the end of the year. Samunina's lawyer Andrew Grima had filed a ju- dicial letter asking the court to proceed by special summary proceedings, on the grounds that the school had admitted the debt. Court held that Samunina's claim was justified and ordered the company to refund the mon- ey with immediate effect. The judgement comes seven months after Mr Justice Law- rence Mintoff ordered the school to refund a group of par- ents €27,000 in near-identical proceedings in May.