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Air Malta this week announced passenger traffic and revenue results for the period April to June 2004, which show an upward trend in its passenger volumes and revenues compared to the same period last year. The number of passengers increased by nine per cent on the entire scheduled network while revenues improved by 3.5 per cent.
“The improvement in our revenue streams came from increased passenger loads and not from yields. This means that our performance appears to be experiencing the same syndrome as the rest of the industry in Europe,” explains Air Malta Chairman Lawrence Zammit.
Overseas markets where Air Malta operates from, increased traffic by five per cent while revenues dropped marginally by less than half a percentage point. Malta, the airline’s home market, registered a dramatic improvement of over 20.5% in passengers and 10.7 per cent in revenues, while markets outside the Air Malta route network contributed with an increase of 27 per cent in passenger uplifts and almost 23 per cent in revenue.
“This is an encouraging trend we would like to keep up. I think that we are seeing the first positive results emerging as a direct consequence of a number of measures we took earlier this year,” explained the Chairman.
“We are particularly pleased with the performance of our home market which has registered substantial improvements. There is no doubt that we are gaining market share. We are obviously conscious of the effect that the drop in yields has in the overall equation, particularly at a time when costs for the industry such as fuel are on the way up. However we know that our pricing is the most effective tool we have to fight with for our fair share of the business,” concluded Mr. Zammit.
Earlier this year Air Malta launched its budget operations between Malta and London Stansted with a newly branded Fare 4U product and the intra-European flights between Catania and London Gatwick. This week the airline also announced the introduction of FlexiFly, a new pricing concept, which is being introduced on all its full service routes as from the 1st November 2004.
Air Malta CEO Ernst Funk adds, “We are determined to continue with our proactive approach in the market. There is still a lot of ground to gain and we need to exploit the skills and the creativity of our staff and the full backing of our trade and business partners to improve the results and manage the turnaround of the company.”
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