51 ROUTES (1 NEW), LOW FARES & 23% GROWTH FOR MALTA

Ryanair, Europe’s No. 1 airline, today (07 Sept) announced its Winter 23/24 schedule for Malta with 51 routes, incl. 1 new route to Memmingen, and increased frequencies on 20 winter sun and city break routes, like Brussels, Catania, Dublin, Krakow, Rome, and Vienna.

Ryanair’s Winter ’23 Malta schedule delivers:

• 6 based aircraft, incl. 5 “Gamechangers” (invest. of $600m in Malta)
• 51 routes, 1 new (Memmingen)
• Increased freq. on 20 routes incl. Brussels, Catania, Dublin, Krakow, Rome & Vienna
• Supp. over 300 highly paid aviation & engineering jobs in Malta
• Traffic to grow to 3.5m pax p.a.

Ryanair is Malta’s No. 1 airline operating 51 routes and carrying 3.5M passengers p.a. to/from Malta Airport, providing Maltese citizens with more choice at the lowest fares for their well-deserved Winter breaks. This unrivalled growth (+23% vs. W22) is underpinned by Ryanair’s 6 Malta-based aircraft, representing a $600M investment in Malta and supporting over 300 high paid aviation professional jobs here in Malta.

As an island economy on the periphery of Europe, Malta is dependent on airlines like Ryanair to grow its connectivity and support its travel and tourism industry. However, Malta’s connectivity and tourism are under those cut from the EU’s proposal under the Energy Taxation Directive (ETD) & impose a new “enviro tax” on intra-EU flights while the most polluting long-haul are exempt, despite being responsible for over 52% of EU aviation emissions yet operating just 6% of EU flights.

Short-haul intra-EU passengers are already paying for all emissions under ETS while long-haul passengers pay zero. It makes no sense to double tax passengers who are flying short haul intra-EU flights, especially when this “enviro tax” is not actually to be used to fund the decarbonisation of EU aviation. Many peripheral States such as Malta, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Greece, and Cyprus, depend on tourism and have NO ALTERNATIVE to flying, yet they are forced to pay all of Europe’s ETS taxes, while they generate less than half of EU aviation emissions. This is clearly unfair. Ryanair calls on the EU to scrap this ridiculous double tax and apply all enviro taxes fairly to all EU departing flights regardless of destination.

To celebrate the launch of Ryanair’s Winter 23/24 Malta schedule, the airline is offering its Maltese customers fares from just €29.99 one way, available only on Ryanair’s website/app.

Speaking in Malta, Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said:

“Ryanair is pleased to offer more choice and the lowest fares to our Maltese customers/visitors for Winter 23/24, with 51 routes, incl. 1 new route to Memmingen, as well as increased frequencies on another 20 routes, incl. popular winter sun and city break destinations like Brussels, Catania, Dublin, Krakow, Rome, and Vienna. This record Winter schedule will be operated on Ryanair’s 6 Malta-based aircraft, representing a $600M investment in Malta and supporting over 300 high paid aviation professional jobs on the island.

As an island economy, Malta is dependent on airlines like Ryanair to sustain its connectivity and to support its tourism industry. As Malta’s biggest operator, Ryanair carries over 3.5M passengers to/from Malta per year, providing unbeatable choice and low fares to Maltese customers/visitors and delivering invaluable inbound tourism all year round.”