The overall impact on connectivity from the downscaling of Air Malta routes “appears to be minimal,” according to a report published by Malta’s Central Bank, which has backed a new strategy for the airline.

The Maltese government announced in October that the current national airline, Air Malta, will be replaced with a new flag-carrier from March 31. Officially named KM Malta Airlines, flights will operate as Air Malta using the existing national carrier’s fleet of eight Airbus A320neos in a two-class configuration.

KM Malta plans to serve 17 points from Malta International Airport (MLA) during the summer 2024 season, down from 23 Air Malta destinations during summer 2023 and 43 in summer 2019, before the pandemic. The new airline aims to offer 284 weekly flights, of which 82 will service Italy, 48 to France, 44 to the UK and 40 to Germany.

“The strategy of the new national airline will be a drastic departure from Air Malta’s strategy in the pre COVID-19 period,” the Central Bank of Malta report says. “Crucially, the 17 routes serviced by the new national airline connect Malta to Europe’s largest airports.

“These are important hubs, providing excellent connectivity across the globe. With Malta’s size and population making long-haul routes unprofitable and unsustainable in the long run, it is crucial to rely on indirect connectivity from such airports as a gateway to the rest of the world.”

Although KM Malta will serve 26 fewer destinations this summer than in 2019, seven alternative airlines will continue to offer flights to 15 of the points. Munich, Paris Charles-de-Gaulle, Rome Fiumicino, Vienna and Zurich will also experience increased flight frequencies.

Additionally, KM Malta has signed a codeshare agreement with Lufthansa Group covering 35 new destinations across Europe served by Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa and Swiss. Lufthansa Group carriers will also place their code on KM Malta-operated flights from MLA to Brussels, Munich, Vienna and Zurich.

However, the report adds that a reduction in competition “may still lead to a negative impact on connectivity, since fewer seats are available.” In addition, since certain airlines will end up having a monopoly on some routes, travelers may face adverse price effects.

Prior to the pandemic, Air Malta had outlined plans to introduce two A321XLRs to its fleet in 2024, enabling the airline to launch its first long-haul services. New York was one of the cities thought to be under review.

Overall connectivity to Malta saw the island nation have 100 nonstop routes during 2023, down by 25 on 2019 levels. The UK accounted for five of the lost connections, followed by Germany and Spain, with four each. Countries no longer linked to Malta directly compared with 2019 are Egypt, Finland, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, Russia and Ukraine.

Notwithstanding this reduction in airport and country connectivity in 2023, when compared to 2019, passenger movements through MLA increased significantly. A total of 7.8 million passenger movements were registered in 2023, an increase of 500,000 when compared to 2019. Moreover, each month during 2023 outperformed the corresponding one of 2019, with the largest percentage increase experienced in December.

“Such increases in passenger movements occurred despite the loss in airport connectivity. This signals that movements to and from longstanding connections intensified,” the Central Bank report says. “This intensification, together with further route recovery and new connectivity developments, will likely lead to significant increases in passenger movements in the near future.”

MLA expects a further increase this year, with passenger movements expected to exceed the 8 million mark in 2024. To accommodate future growth, the airport in November announced a six-year €250 million ($267 million) investment to upgrade facilities, such as the airport terminal, main runway and aprons, among other work.