I have been following the story on the proposed changes to Air Malta with much interest.

My wife and I have been visitors to Malta for several years now and have seen the many improvements in both its infrastructure and customer service with much satisfaction.

Our first flights were with Ryanair. Cheap, yes; overall experience, nasty. Then we discovered Air Malta.

Hot food in flight, very courteous and friendly cabin crew and the feeling that we were experiencing the Malta welcome as soon as we boarded the aircraft.

We are now very saddened that it is felt that Air Malta has to downsize and lessen the passenger experience in order to survive.

It will never compete with the low-cost carriers and, even if it were possible, the whole Air Malta experience would be lost.

The race to the bottom is extremely fashionable these days with corporate bean counters. A good accountant will always save money but rarely make any.

Why not look at the problem another way? Promote what you do best, not just being the cheapest. Emirates never thinks it’s losing out by being too expensive!

If the situation at Air Malta descends to a low-cost, low-expectation operation, then, unfortunately, I can see no future.

I hope wiser counsel prevails.