Palma, Newcastle, Glasgow among six new Ryanair winter routes
Low-cost airline will base a ninth aircraft in Malta
Low-cost airline Ryanair has added six new routes to Malta's winter schedule, CEO Michael O'Leary announced on Wednesday.
The new routes include Glasgow, Norwich, and Newcastle in the United Kingdom; Gothenburg in Sweden; Luxembourg and Palma on the Spanish island of Mallorca. This will bring Malta's total routes to 57.
There will also be increased frequencies to 20 other routes, including Milan, Porto, Bucharest and London.
The introduction of these new routes is expected to increase passenger traffic in Malta to over 5.2 million by the end of 2025, O'Leary said, marking a 15 per cent rise.
O'Leary said that while Malta is easy to advertise as a summer destination, Ryanair is working to tap into the winter market as well.
"What we are trying to do is keep visitors coming here during the shoulder months," he said.
He added that Ryanair typically loses money when launching new flights, but the company will first assess how these routes perform, then decide on how to proceed.
O'Leary said that the decision to include Palma as a route was suggested by the Malta Tourism Authority.
In addition, O'Leary announced that from November, Ryanair will add its ninth based aircraft in Malta - a Boeing 737 "gamechanger." This $100 million investment, he said, is expected to create another 30 jobs for pilots and cabin crew.
"This means that Ryanair will have more aircraft based in Malta than KM Malta Airlines, which has eight," O'Leary said.
Malta Air’s CEO, David O’Brien, echoed this, saying: "We are Malta's number one airline. We are the national airline."
These new investments bring Ryanair's total investment in Malta to over $1 billion, which includes the airline's new maintenance hangar, the expansion of Malta Air's offices, and the creation of more than 4,300 jobs.
To mark Ryanair's largest-ever winter schedule announcement for Malta, O'Leary said the airline has launched a seat sale with fares starting at €21.99, available for booking until midnight on Sunday.