Air Malta sets its sights on Mumbai, launches integrated operations control department

The national carrier has launched a new integrated operations control department and will now look at new possible medium-haul routes, Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi said

Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi addressed a press conference on Sunday at Air Malta's new integrated operations control department
Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi addressed a press conference on Sunday at Air Malta's new integrated operations control department

Air Malta will be looking at the possibility of expanding its service beyond Europe and North Africa, and has set its sights on India's largest city Mumbai as the new destination to start considering serving, Konrad Mizzi said.

The Tourism Minister was addressing a press conference on Sunday on the launch of a new integrated operations control department at the airlines's Skyparks offices at Malta airport.

Mizzi said that in a few weeks' time, Air Malta's annual general meeting would be revealing some "surprises" when it came to the financial improvements at the airline.

"Air Malta has implemented a number of strategies since 2017, including to strengthen routes and to compliment low-cost carriers in Malta," he said, higlighing that a new route to Cairo would soon be launched.

"It will now start focusing on medium-haul destinations, starting by looking at Mumbai as a possibility," he said.

Mizzi said that, with the airline's new operations control room, all flights would be programmed within that department months in advance. "Anything which happens will be handled from here... including changes brought about by weather conditions, delays and flight diversions."

Emergency response room upgraded

Air Malta CEO captain Clifford Chetcuti said that the airline's emergency response room had also been upgraded. "This room will be used if ever an emergency arises. Senior management will be housed in a room adjacent to the emergency response room, so decisions will be taken in a more timely manner, and will take customer concerns into consideration to a more effective degree," Chetcuti underscored.

Chetcuti said that Air Malta had also decided to keep all its IT-related work in-house, instead of outsourcing it, and that there was also the option of selling its services in this regard to other operators which might want to make use of them.

The national carrier's chairman Charles Mangion underlined that Air Malta's aim was to be a catalyst for economic development, not just when tourism was concerned, but also in financial services, iGaming, manufacturing, and other areas in which investments are made.

"We now have integration in the routes we serve in Europe and North Africa, and can at this point even go beyond," Mangion said.