Air Malta will not be cancelling any of its 16 routes operating this winter, however, it is reducing the number of flights in a bid to match demand. 

In a statement, the national airline said that the reduction was necessitated by the dramatic downturn in demand over recent weeks, something that has affected countless airlines across the globe. 

Still, Air Malta insisted that it does not plan to cancel any of its routes for winter or summer. 

There were no indications given on which flight frequencies had been reduced. However, Air Malta had received over 4,000 cancellation requests since the start of November. 

“We are taking such decisions to match customer demand and avoid flying near-empty aircraft. Such assessments are ongoing and will continue until demand returns to healthy levels. In these situations, we need to be very agile and financially disciplined to be able to adjust seat capacity and focus on efficiency to protect our liquidity and cash performance,” Executive Chairman David Curmi said. 

“Given the unprecedented times we are living in and the challenges that Air Malta is facing, we are continuously optimising our network for profitability and liquidity, and we plan to continue to do so without compromises.”

Roy Kinnear, Air Malta’s Chief Commercial Officer added:

“Following the surge of the Omicron variant and the introduction of lockdowns or partial lockdowns and travel restrictions across much of Europe, Air Malta saw a slowdown in new bookings and received a number of cancellations for travel over the holiday period and in January and February.”

“The cancellations came across most of Air Malta’s markets with varying degree. These fluctuating trends have been typical last year with markets opening and closing depending on threat levels. The combination of the current slowdown in bookings and with January and February being naturally lower demand months, has unfortunately driven an increased level of frequency consolidation compared to previously anticipated, but commercially necessary to do so.”

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