AIR MALTA

'Air Malta' is the national airline of Malta, based in Luqa. It operates services to around 50 destinations in Europe and North Africa. The airline's hub and base is at Malta International Airport, Malta.

Contents

History

Destinations

Incidents and accidents

Fleet

External links

References

History

For many years the Maltese were used to travelling by sea or with foreign (mainly British) airlines but when Malta obtained its independence, the new government decided to create a national airline. The airline was established on March 21, 1973, when it was created by a resolution of the Malta House of Representatives, set up as a limited liability company and granted a certificate of rights to operate international services from Malta.
Air Malta began service on April 1, 1974, with two wet leased Boeing 720Bs that initially served Rome, Tripoli, London, Manchester, Frankfurt and Paris from Malta's airport.
In 1983, 3 new Boeing 737s were delivered. In 1986, Air Malta ordered two new 737s, and in 1987 ordered its first Airbus A320. They then sold the two 720s on their fleet. In 1989, Air Malta exercised an option for one more A320, and in 1992, two more 737s were ordered. That year 4 Avro RJ 70s were ordered, to be put on routes Malta to Catania and Palermo and to new destinations such as Tunis and Monastir.

After the opening of the new Malta International Airport in 1992, Air Malta created ''CargoSystems'', which includes the air transportation of cargo on Air Malta planes. In 1994, Air Malta inaugurated a cargo center at the airport.
In July 2002, Air Malta announced that its new fleet of aircraft would be from the European aeroplane manufacturer Airbus. The new fleet compromises A319s and A320s, and deliveries have already begun. The last plane will be delivered in 2007, and will reduce the average age of the fleet to around 2.5 years.
Air Malta has concluded over 191 interline ticketing agreements with other IATA airlines. It also has a codeshare agreement with Qantas from Sydney-Singapore-London-Malta.
According to the Association of European Airlines quarterly review of May 2006 Air Malta is the airline that loses the least amount of passenger baggage. The amount of baggage lost in the first quarter of 2006 was 4.1 bags missing per 1000 passengers.
Air Malta is owned by the Maltese government (98%) and private investors (2%). Air Malta also has a 25% shareholding in Medavia. The airline employs 1,547 staff (May 2007).

Airbus A319-100

Destinations

Further information: ''Air Malta destinations''

★ In 2007 Air Malta is to expand services to Romania, introducing a series of weekly flights to Timişoara (to add to links it already has to Bucharest and Cluj). It has also restarted twice-weekly services to Benghazi.^[1]

★ Air Malta also operates seasonal charters from Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham/East Midlands in England.

Incidents and accidents

Air Malta flight KM830 was hijacked in June 1997, by two Turks. The hijack ended in Cologne with no casualties.

Fleet

The Air Malta fleet consists of the following aircraft (as at May 2007):

★ 5 Airbus A319-111 9H-AEG (Mdina), 9H-AEH (Floriana), 9H-AEJ (San Pawl il-Baħar), 9H-AEL (Marsaxlokk), 9H-AEM (Birgu - Citta Vittoriosa)

★ 7 Airbus A320-214 9H-AEF (Valletta), 9H-AEI (Rabat - Citta Vittoria), 9H-AEK (San Ġiljan), 9H-AEN (Bormla), 9H-AEO (Isla - Citta Invicta), 9H-AEP (Nadur), 9H-AEQ (Tarxien)

★ 2 Boeing 737-33A 9H-ADH (not named), 9H-ADI (not named)
Note: 9H-AEN is wet leased to XL Airways and 9H-AEF to XL Airways.

External links

★ Official website

References

1. Air Malta destinations