Air Malta

Early years

Shortly after the Second World War, several small private airlines were formed in Malta. Amongst these were The Instone Airlines 1946 (Malta) Ltd, BAS (Malta) Ltd, and Malta Airways. In 1947, the former two companies merged to form Air Malta Ltd together with Chartair Ltd (Until it received its license, its trade name was initially Maltair Merger). There was fierce competition with Malta Airways who were closely associated with BOAC and BEA. In 1951, Malta Airways absorbed the operations of Air Malta Ltd and together with BEA (34%), set up The Malta Airlines. BEA handled all the flight operations, engaging local cabin crew and ground staff, and this set up lasted until 1973. From the remnants of Air Malta Ltd, in 1955 a ground handling company was set up called Malta Aviation Services MAS , and their real estate, staff, and equipment transferred to this company. During this time, Col. R Strickland was Managing Director at Malta Aviation Services Ltd and Mr W H Woodroffe was Station Manager. On 1 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 formed a new locally majority owned airline, and initially under the chairmanship of John Mizzi, and later Albert Mizzi, a call for an international airline partner to help set up an airline was made. 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 contracted to continue its previous Malta operations, this time for Air Malta instead of Malta Airlines, until Air Malta's first flight with its own equipment on 1 April 1974. The government took over both Malta Airlines and Malta Aviation Services and the local private owners were given a shareholding in Air Malta Co. Ltd. The option to buy out PIA's shareholding was exercised in 1979.

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. In 1978 it bought three more Boeing 720Bs and in 1979 it bought the original two.

In 1980, 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, and four Avro RJ70s were ordered initially for routes to Catania and Palermo, and to new destinations such as Tunis and Monastir, but then expanded to lean destinations further away with greater frequency, or completely new ones such as Beirut and Damascus.

Between 1994 and 1996, Air Malta operated wide body A310 aircraft to spur its Dubai service. In the summer of 1996 it also operated an L1011 Tristar on behalf of a German tour operator.

After the opening of Malta International Airport in 1992, Air Malta created CargoSystems, which included the transportation of cargo on Air Malta planes. In 1994, Air Malta inaugurated a cargo centre at the old airport

terminal.

Between 1995 and 1997 Air Malta entered a codeshare with Balkan, to operate non-stop direct services Malta between New York JFK using Boeing 767-200ER equipment once weekly although at peak times, two weekly flights were operated.

21st century developments

After a successful codeshare with Balkan to New York, in 2000 Air Malta took the plunge and decided to operate the route on its own. In March 2000 it announce thatbetreen 22 June and 4th September 2000, a series of 22 twice weekly flights will be operated. A Boeing 757-200ER was triples from American Trans Air, which however needed a fuel stop in Shannon. 5th freedom rights were secured, and the Maltese airline was allowed to pick up US bound passengers in Shannon, and vice versa. It was during this time that a codesharing agreement with Trans World Airlines for flights between Malta and USA via Milan and London Gatwick, 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 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.