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Ryanair will be basing an aircraft in Malta year-round for the next 5 years, leading to the addition of 6 new routes.
The Irish low-cost airline currently operates 13 routes, each to European destinations which host a Ryanair base. It first started operating to Malta with 2 routes - Luton and Pisa - in 2006, rapidly expanding to 13. In 2009, it brought 440,000 passengers to and from Malta.
The agreement to base aircraft at the Malta International Airport will allow for routes to destinations which do not have a base of their own or which are underserved. Starting on May 18, Ryanair will be offering flights to Seville, Valencia, Marseille, Billund (Denmark), Kraków and Bologna. Air Malta already operates to Bologna and Marseille - but only in summer. Malta Tourism Authority chief executive Josef Formosa Gauci said that when these agreements were being negotiations, the possible effect on Air Malta was also considered, with the MTA going for options which would have the least negative impact. Business Meetings in Malta will benefit from this new operation as Ryanair makes connections with these destinations accessible.
The geographical location of Malta means that the aircraft can operate 2 flights a day easily - in fact, it will operate 21 flights a week in all, Ryanair's commercial analyst Colin Casey said.
The routes will operate year-round, and are expected to increase Ryanair's Malta traffic to 800,000 passengers a year. Mr Casey said that the routes would sustain 800 jobs in Malta indirectly although he was not able to give figures at the time on how many direct employees Ryanair would have based in Malta.
Mr Casey said that this is Ryanair's 41st base. It now operates over 1,300 flights a day to 152 airports, catering for 73 million passengers last year. The average fare for this financial year is €32 per passenger and is actually 20 per cent lower than the previous year.
As is standard with announcements of new routes, the airline is offering 1 million seats at €9.90 one way including taxes and charges, for travel in March and April. For bookings please visit www.ryanair.com
For further information on all your meetings requirements please contact Business Meetings Malta, the free conference venue finding company and DMC
Email: theresa@businessmeetingsmalta.com
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