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Matthew Vella
Malta will be among 24 new destinations to which Catalan low-cost airline Clickair will fly from its Mediterranean hub in El Prat airport, just outside Barcelona.
Clickair chairman Carlos Losada announced the new routes, which also include North Africa, Italy, Moscow and Helsinki, in a presentation to Barcelona’s airline development committee earlier this week. The service is expected to start in June.
Clickair will be the fourth low-cost airline to land in Malta, where Irish carrier Ryanair already operates to Dublin, Pisa, and London Luton, and Italian carrier Meridiana flies to Bologna. Germany’s low-cost carrier Germanwings will shortly commence flights from Cologne and Stuttgart.
Malta Tourism Authority sources also pointed towards renewed interest from Poland, after a route-support scheme by Malta International Airport, offering up to 50 per cent discounts on charges for LCCs from Spain, Sweden, Norway and Poland, failed to draw any applicants.
Clickair’s strategic plan provides for a total of 70 routes to 55 Spanish and European cities by the end of 2008. With the addition of new aircraft in 2007 and 2008, the passenger forecast will quickly grow from 300,000 in 2006, to 4.5 million in 2007 and 10 million in 2008.
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