Air Malta

Air Malta, stylized as airmalta, was a Maltese airline headquartered in Luqa and based at Malta International Airport. It operated services as the country's flag carrier to destinations in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Air Malta ceased operations on 30 March 2024 and was replaced on the next day with a new flag carrier, KM Malta Airlines.

History

Early years

Shortly after the Second World War, several small private airlines were formed in Malta. Amongst these were The Malta Instone Airline, BAS (Malta) Ltd, and Malta Airlines. In 1947, the former two companies merged to form Air Malta Ltd in fierce competition with the latter. Eventually, in 1951 Malta Airlines absorbed the operations of Air Malta Ltd and continued operating through an agreement with BEA until 1973. The owners of Air Malta Ltd used their real estate, staff, and equipment to set up a ground handling company called MAS, Malta Aviation Services.

In the early 1970s, the Maltese government appointed Albert Mizzi as chairman of the airline and made a call for an international airline partner to help set up an airline and Pakistan's flag carrier PIA was selected for this purpose. The name chosen for the new airline was similar to that of its forerunner, Air Malta Co Ltd, and was established on 31 March 1973. BEA was chartered to continue its Malta operations, this time for Air Malta, until Air Malta's first flight on 1 April 1974. The government took over both Malta Airlines and Malta Aviation Services and the private owners were given a shareholding in Air Malta Co. Ltd.

Air Malta started operations, with two wet leased Boeing 720Bs from Pakistan International Airlines that served Rome, Tripoli, London, Manchester, Frankfurt, Dublin for holiday charters, as well as Paris from Malta. It later bought three more Boeing 720Bs and bought the original two.

In 1981, three Boeing 737-200s were wet-leased, which were so successful that in 1983, three new fully owned Boeing 737-200s were delivered. In 1986, Air Malta bought three new Boeing 737-200s, and in 1987 ordered its first Airbus A320. In 1989, Air Malta exercised an option for one more A320, and in 1992, three more Boeing 737-300s were ordered and four Avro RJ70s were ordered for routes to Catania and Palermo, and to new destinations such as Tunis and Monastir.

After the opening of Malta International Airport in 1992, Air Malta created ''CargoSystems'', which includes the transportation of cargo on Air Malta planes. In 1994, Air Malta inaugurated a cargo center at the airport. It was also during this time that a codesharing agreement with Trans World Airlines began.

21st century developments

Between 2002 and 2007, Air Malta embarked upon a fleet replacement programme, opting to change all aircraft to Airbus A319s and A320s. The last aircraft in this order, an A320, was delivered on 22 March 2007, and the fleet has not been replaced since.

Air Malta had around 190 interline ticketing agreements with other IATA airlines. According to the Association of European Airlines quarterly review of May 2006, Air Malta was the airline that lost the least amount of passenger baggage. The amount of baggage lost in the first quarter of 2006 was 4.1 bags massing per 1000 passengers.

In winter, the airline often leases out aircraft to maximize earnings during the low season. In September 2007, for instance, Air Malta made two agreements with Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways by which Air Malta wet-leased 2 Airbus aircraft to Etihad Airways for the winter period starting 1 September 2007, and provided operational support on another Airbus A320 aircraft leased by Etihad Airways. In January and February 2009 Air Malta wet-leased an A320 to Sky Airline of Chile. From 2011 to 2014 Air Malta wet-leased another A320 to Sky Airline.

In 2012 Air Malta underwent a re-branding process, which caused some controversy as the titles on aircraft and signage only say Malta, omitting the word ''Air''. The airline insisted this was not a name change, and the full name of the airline remains Air Malta. Additionally, the titles on the engines still say ''airmalta.com''. The first plane to show off the new colours was the Airbus A320-200 ''9H-AEN'' at the Malta International Airshow 2012. On the second and last day of the show the A320 and a Spitfire performed a flypast as the closing act.

As a commemoration of the airline's 40 years of operation, the airline painted one of its aircraft, ''9H-AEI'', an A320-200, in retro colours, depicting the livery used on the Boeing 720Bs. The 9H-AEI aircraft debuted on April 16, 2014.

In June 2017, the newly appointed Minister for Tourism announced the restructuring of Air Malta. This was also confirmed by the newly appointed chairman. Air Malta then opened a number of new routes, including Tunis, Malaga (reduced to seasonal in 2019), Comiso (terminated after summer 2018), Kyiv, Lisbon, Casablanca, Southend (terminated in 2019) and Cagliari (subsequently reduced to June–September only). Manchester and Frankfurt were restarted after being briefly terminated.

In March 2019, the airline announced that it had made a profit of €1.2 million in the fiscal year of 2018. This profit was the first the airline has made in 18 years.

Closure and replacement

In August 2022, the Maltese government announced it would dissolve Air Malta should the European Union deny further financial state aid to the airline. It would then relocate its assets to a succeeding carrier. Shortly after, the decision regarding the airline's future had been delayed to the end of 2022; however, the route network and frequencies saw extensive cuts by October 2022, including the termination of several destinations.

On 18 April 2023, Chairman David Curmi announced that the European Commission declined to give permission to the Maltese government to inject 290 million euros of state aid into the airline. In 2023, Air Malta incorporated its aircraft with a new livery with red and dark red on the back of the plane. This livery would be subsequently used by the new airline. Also, a competitive process was to be launched for the new airline to acquire the tender for the Air Malta branding which is owned by a government owned company, IP Holdings, which was set up by former minister Konrad Mizzi to transfer assets to show that the company earned a profit in 2018.

On 2 October 2023, the Maltese government announced the closure of Air Malta for 30 March 2024, replaced by KM Malta Airlines the following day.

Corporate affairs

The head office of the company was at the Skyparks Business Centre, located on the property of Malta International Airport in Luqa. In the 1960s and 1970s the head office of its predecessor Malta Airlines was in Sliema.

Codeshare agreements

Air Malta maintained Codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

* Aeroflot
* airBaltic
* Air France
* Air Serbia
* Austrian Airlines
* Brussels Airlines
* Czech Airlines
* Emirates
* Etihad Airways
* ITA Airways
* KLM
* Lufthansa
* Qatar Airways
* Swiss International Air Lines
* Turkish Airlines

Fleet

Final fleet

and prior to the closure of operations, Air Malta operated the following aircraft:

Former fleet

Air Malta previously also operated the following aircraft types:

Incidents and accidents

Air Malta had no fatal accidents throughout its five decades of operation. Incidents involving Air Malta aircraft include:
*On 31 October 1981, after a Boeing 737-200 landed in Cairo, Egypt, two bombs exploded, injuring four people. A third bomb that failed to detonate was found later.
*On 21 December 1988, Air Malta Flight 180 played an unintentional role when an unaccompanied baggage containing a timed explosive was checked onto the flight out of Luqa Airport to Frankfurt Airport, where it was loaded as interline baggage to the first leg of Pan Am Flight 103 from Frankfurt to London-Heathrow Airport. The bomb in the unaccompanied baggage then exploded on Pan Am 103's transatlantic leg while it was flying over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing a total of 270 people.
*On 9 June 1997, Air Malta Flight 830, a Boeing 737-200, was hijacked by two Turks on a flight from Malta to Istanbul, Turkey. They demanded the release of Mehmet Ali Ağca. The hijack ended in Cologne, Germany, with no casualties amongst the 74 passengers and 6 crew.
*On 19 January 2004, Air Malta Flight 642, an Airbus A320, hit a pylon at Malta International Airport while taxiing prior to takeoff. There were no injuries among the crew and 27 passengers on board, while damage to the aicraft's wing amounted to around $2 million.

In addition, on 11 September 1990 a Faucett Perú Boeing 727 which had been leased to Air Malta disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean while it was being ferried back to Peru from Malta upon the end of its lease, with 16 presumed fatalities.

See also

* List of defunct airlines of Malta

References

External links

Official website

{{Authority control

Defunct airlines of Malta
Airlines established in 1973
Airlines disestablished in 2024
Government-owned airlines
Maltese brands

1973 establishments in Malta
2024 disestablishments in Malta
Luqa