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| Founded | 31 March 1973; 52 years ago (1973-03-31) | ||||||
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| Commenced operations | 1 April 1974; 51 years ago (1974-04-01) | ||||||
| Ceased operations | 30 March 2024; 19 months ago (2024-03-30) | ||||||
| AOC # | MT-01 | ||||||
| Hubs | Malta International Airport | ||||||
| Frequent-flyer program |
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| Subsidiaries | Malta MedAir | ||||||
| Fleet size | 7 | ||||||
| Destinations | 20[1] | ||||||
| Headquarters | Luqa,Malta | ||||||
| Key people |
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| Employees | 375 | ||||||
| Website | www | ||||||
Air Malta, stylized asairmalta, was aMalteseairline headquartered inLuqa and based atMalta International Airport. It operated services as the country'sflag 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.[2][3]
Shortly after the Second World War, several small private airlines were formed in Malta. Amongst these wereThe Malta Instone Airline,BAS (Malta) Ltd, andMalta Airlines. In 1947, the former two companies merged to formAir 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 withBEA until 1973. The owners of Air Malta Ltd used their real estate, staff, and equipment to set up aground handling company called MAS, Malta Aviation Services, this was set up in 1955. During this time, Col. R Strickland was Managing Director at Malta Aviation Services Ltd and Mr W H Woodroffe was Station Manager. 1st February 1955 - Emanuel Paris promoted as Senior Station Officer for MAS with offices at Luqa airport. In 1958 Mr J T Crossey was the Managing Director and Mr F G Haywood was Station Manager whilst Mr Emanuel Paris was appointed deputy Station Manager. On 30 September 1958 Mr E Paris replaced Mr F G Haywood as Station Manager of the airport, being the first Maltese national to take over this post.
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 carrierPIA was selected for this purpose.[4] 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 twowet leasedBoeing 720Bs fromPakistan International Airlines that served Rome,Tripoli,London,Manchester,Frankfurt, Dublin for holiday charters, as well asParis from Malta. It later bought three more Boeing 720Bs and bought the original two.
In 1981, threeBoeing 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 firstAirbus A320. In 1989, Air Malta exercised an option for one more A320, and in 1992, three moreBoeing 737-300s were ordered and fourAvro RJ70s were ordered for routes toCatania andPalermo, and to new destinations such asTunis andMonastir.
After the opening of Malta International Airport in 1992, Air Malta createdCargoSystems, 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 withTrans World Airlines began.
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.
Air Malta had around 190 interline ticketing agreements with otherIATA airlines. According to theAssociation 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-basedEtihad 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 toSky Airline of Chile. From 2011 to 2014 Air Malta wet-leased another A320 toSky 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 wordAir. 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 sayairmalta.com. The first plane to show off the new colours was the Airbus A320-2009H-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.[5] This was also confirmed by the newly appointed chairman.[6] 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).[7] Manchester and Frankfurt were restarted after being briefly terminated.[8]
In June 2018, Air Malta took delivery of its first Airbus A320neo fromBeijing Capital Airlines, registered as 9H-NEO.[9] Five more A320neo aircraft were delivered until the airline's closure in 2024, replacing all but one of its ageing A320s and A319s. The last two A320neo aircraft were delivered in 2023 and wore a new, simplified livery, which was intended to cut costs.[10]
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.[11]
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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.[12] 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.[13]
On 18 April 2023, Chairman David Curmi announced that theEuropean Commission declined to give permission to the Maltese government to inject 290 million euros of state aid into the airline.[14] 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 ministerKonrad Mizzi to transfer assets to show that the company earned a profit in 2018.[citation needed]
On 2 October 2023, the Maltese government announced the closure of Air Malta for 30 March 2024.[15] It was replaced byKM Malta Airlines the following day.[3][16]
The head office of the company was at the Skyparks Business Centre, located on the property ofMalta International Airport inLuqa.[17] In the 1960s and 1970s the head office of its predecessor Malta Airlines was inSliema.[18][19]
Air Malta maintainedCodeshare agreements with the following airlines:[20]
As of March 2024[update] and prior to the closure of operations, Air Malta operated the following aircraft:[24]
| Aircraft | Number | Orders | Passengers | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J | Y | Total | ||||
| Airbus A320-200 | 1 | — | 12 | 150 | 162 | All transferred toKM Malta Airlines |
| Airbus A320neo | 6 | — | 12 | 162 | 174 | |
| Total | 7 | — | ||||
Air Malta previously also operated the following aircraft types:[citation needed]
| Aircraft | Total | Introduced | Retired | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A310-300 | 2 | 1994 | 1996 | Leased fromLufthansa andSabena |
| Airbus A319-100 | 7 | 2001 | 2019 | [25] |
| Avro RJ70 | 4 | 1994 | 1998 | [26] |
| BAC One-Eleven 500 | 1 | 1975 | 1975 | Leased fromBritish Caledonian |
| Boeing 720B | 7 | 1978 | 1989 | [27] |
| Boeing 727-200 | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | One leased to Faucett Perú[28] |
| Boeing 737-200 | 9 | 1980 | 2004 | [26] |
| Boeing 737-300 | 12 | 1993 | 2008 | [26] |
| Boeing 737-400 | 4 | 1998 | 2000 | [29] |
| Boeing 737-500 | 1 | 2001 | 2001 | Leased fromMaersk Air |
| Boeing 737-700 | 2 | 2000 | 2000 | |
| British Aerospace 146-200 | 1 | 1993 | 1993 | Leased fromBritish Aerospace |
| British Aerospace ATP | 1 | 1992 | 1993 | Leased fromSATA Air Açores |
| Convair 880 | 1 | 1977 | 1979 | [30] |
| McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 | 1 | 1979 | 1980 | Leased fromAustrian Airlines |
| McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30 | 1 | 2008 | 2008 | Leased fromHello[31] |
Air Malta had no fatal accidents throughout its five decades of operation. Incidents involving Air Malta aircraft include:
In addition, on 11 September 1990 a Faucett Perú Boeing 727 which had been leased to Air Maltadisappeared in the Atlantic Ocean while it was being ferried back to Peru from Malta upon the end of its lease, with 16 presumed fatalities.
Media related toAir Malta at Wikimedia Commons
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