Air Malta has so far issued over €20 million in refunds claimed by passengers whose flights were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a spokesperson for the national airline.

“Over the past year, we had to cancel thousands of flights and received thousands of requests for refunds, vouchers and re-bookings. The process is ongoing and the procedure is complex.

“It has taken longer than expected but we are working hard to ensure that whoever is entitled to a refund or a voucher gets it. While we apologise for any delays, we ask our customers to bear with us. We are committed to process all requests expeditiously,” the spokesperson said.

In the past weeks, some passengers contacted Times of Malta complaining that, one year after the pandemic forced the cancellation of their flights, they did not receive a refund.

When the coronavirus outbreak struck in March 2020, like other airlines worldwide, Air Malta was forced to cancel flights.

Flights were grounded when the airport was closed, effectively shutting down the tourism industry until July 1.

Since then, Air Malta has had to cancel other flights to destinations with travel restrictions.

In April last year, the airline announced four options for customers who had their flights cancelled: a refund, booking a new trip within a year, booking the same flight when they are ready to travel again and getting a travel voucher.

The Air Malta spokesperson explained that, in an ordinary situation,  the airline carries over  two million passengers and, over the past year, it was operating at just 15 per cent of its schedule.

He said that the processing of refunds to passengers who booked through a travel agent or online booking website were taking longer because the airline does not have direct access to customer information unlike in the case of those passengers who would have booked directly with Air Malta.

“When the airline receives a request for refund from a travel agent or online booking website, we verify the request and the entitlement and transfer the funds to the travel agent or online booking website.

“It is then up to the travel agent or online booking website to transfer the funds to their clients,” he said.

Air Malta executive chairman David Curmi said last month the under pressure airline has been “dismantled” by the pandemic and its effects have been “very difficult to overcome”.

Speaking during a tourism industry webinar, Curmi said that Air Malta was planning to cut unprofitable routes and also needed to slash its payroll costs further to improve its financial health.

A spokesperson later confirmed that the organisation would focus on the UK, France, Germany and Italy for “the immediate future”, with routes and frequencies to pick up in the future.

Air Malta has already cut salaries and made hundreds of pilots and cabin crew redundant.

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