Air Malta is planning to raise the number of passengers it carries in winter by 10 per cent to 70,000, Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi and airline chairman Charles Mangion said on Sunday.

They said the airline will operate 25 routes during the winter  - Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Cairo, Catania, Casablanca, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Lisbon, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Lyon, Kiev, Milan, Moscow, Munich, Palermo, Paris Charles De Gaulle, Paris Orly, Prague, Rome, Tel Aviv, Tunis, Vienna and Zurich.

Ten destinations will be served with daily or multiple daily frequencies,
primarily to major European hub airports.

Lyon, Prague and Cairo, already part of the summer schedule, have been added to the winter network. There will be three flights a week from Lyon and twice weekly from Prague.

Flight frequency is being increased to other destinations, notably London Heathrow and Gatwick, Brussels and Palermo. 

The purpose, he said, is to improve connectivity to airports where potential tourists can link-up from medium and long-haul destinations such as Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, the US and Canada.

Dr Mangion said he looked forward to concluding talks on a collective agreement with pilots. Much progress had been achieved in talks with the pilots’ union, he said. He said he had written to all the pilots personally and was appealing to the union for talks to finally conclude the process.

Dr Mizzi said harmonious industrial relations would enable the airline to embark on its next challenge of embarking on medium to long-haul services. 

He said, however, that the airline could not guarantee jobs in the way the pilots’ union wanted, because that would breach EU law and it would also be unfair on other employees.