Ryanair starts new airline: Malta Air

After having performed substantial negotiations, Ryanair will now start a new airline: Malta Air. This airline will operate besides Air Malta, that already exists and is owned by the state of Malta. Both Ryanair as well as the Maltese authorities have now confirmed this. Konrad Mizzi, the Maltese minister of tourism, does not fear that Malta Air will complete with Air Malta. He is convinced that both airlines will be able to function well besides each other. Both airlines deliver a different product. The main goal of both airlines is however the same: promoting tourism to Malta.

The airline in practice

In first instance, Ryanair will use 6 Boeing 737’s to fly for Malta Air. Those aircrafts will be flying with the new color schedule of Malta Air. The airplanes will fly, amongst others, to the Dutch international airports of Eindhoven and Maastricht. Later on, the number of aircrafts will be expanded. The product of Malta Air will be very similar to that of Ryanair. That entails that the flights will also be low-cost, with only the bare minimum of service and primarily catering to tourists. What differs though, is the fact that Air Malta will also be flying to premium, expensive, destinations like Schiphol, the Amsterdam international airport and Paris Charles de Gaulle. For now, it is unclear when the first flights with Malta Air can be booked.

Malta Air will be the fifth airline operating under the Irish company

There are already 5 airlines operating directly or indirectly under the name of Ryanair. These include Ryanair UK, Ryanair Sun and Laudamotion. This appears to therefore be the first airline that is owned by Ryanair and that is not based in the United Kingdom. It appears that Ryanair is now also expanding in to the rest of Europe.