Low-cost airlines equate to 38% of total passenger movements to Malta

There are currently seven low-cost airlines flying to Malta, with these accounting for no less than 38% of total passenger movements to the country, the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) told this newspaper. The airlines in question are Ryanair, Easyjet, Vueling, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Transavia.com, Wizz Air, and Germanwings.

A low-cost airline is generally understood as meaning that the price of a ticket does not exceed €150 per person. However, as the MTA pointed out, “this does not mean that this price is never exceeded as flight prices fluctuate on a continuous basis, depending on timing and demand and supply factors.”

Ryanair is perhaps the most established of all the airlines, and the fact that it flies to Malta from 11 countries – and 28 cities – is evidence in itself. Easyjet, for instance, flies from seven cities in the United Kingdom and Italy.

Meanwhile, Vueling flies from four cities in Spain and Italy, Norwegian Air Shuttle from Denmark, Spain and, of course, Norway, while Wizz Air flies from Hungary, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.

Transavia.com and Germanwings only fly from one country each, France and Germany respectively.

All airlines operate to Malta during the summer months, with a large number of them doing so from April to October. Meanwhile, 20 of the 28 Ryanair routes also fly during the winter months, from November to March, as do all the Easyjet flights from the United Kingdom. The latter’s routes from Italy, however, do not.

Vueling, Transavia.com and Germanwings do not operate during winter either, while Wizz Air’s flight from Budapest is the only one that does so during winter. Norwegian Air Shuttle operate from Oslo and Copenhagen during the months of November and December but cease their flights from Madrid during that period.