Opens first Malta base with half a million seats at €5 each in June
Gerald Fenech
No-frills Irish airline Ryanair has announced the opening of its first base located in Malta and which is expected to double the number of passengers from the current 440,000 to 800,000 through its 19 routes all over Europe.
This was announced at a press conference held yesterday and which was addressed by Ryanair Regional Manager Luis Fernandez who repeatedly stated that the airline was consistently at the top with regards to customer service standards as well as baggage claim consistency.
A presentation revealed that 95% of Ryanair flights arrive on time and the airline currently has 41 bases spread across Europe and is active in 164 airports. As far as Malta is concerned, Ryanair plans to introduce six new routes and three new markets through which it hopes to practically double the number of [passengers coming to Malta.
In fact Ryanair already accounts for more than half of total passenger numbers who come to Malta with 54 per cent of the numbers. The airline has also launched a special number of 500,000 seats at the knockdown price of EUR 5 which offer closes tomorrow and is valid for the month of June.
One aircraft will be parked permanently here with Fernandez confirming that a total of 30 full time Ryanair staff will be based on the island. He said that the Ryanair base should safeguard a net 800 jobs in the local tourist industry.
Responding to questions on the impacted cost of the Icelandic ash cloud on the airline, Fernandez was evasive adding that they were not looking at the past but preferred to focus on the future. He said that the airline was regularly in top spot when surveys on customer satisfaction were made.
The first aircraft which arrived at Ryanair’s Malta International Airport base touched down at around 1130am from Valencia in Spain. Its passengers were pleasantly surprised to be greeted with flowers, traditional Maltese delicacies and a folklore band serenading them.
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