Malta opens its doors

Malta opens its doors to low-cost airlines, by the Deutsche Presse Agentur as relayed by The Raw Story:

The Maltese government Monday gave two major low- cost airlines, Ryanair and Easy Jet, the go-ahead to operate new routes to the Mediterranean island. Accepting incentives worth some 2.3 million euros (3 million dollars) a year to operate year-round services, Ryanair will within eight weeks be offering a daily service to Malta from London's Luton airport and a thrice-weekly flight from Pisa, Italy.

Ryanair, which expects to bring about 87,000 tourists to Malta every year, will also operate a thrice-weekly flight from Dublin as from next February. Easy Jet will start daily flights from Luton and five-weekly flights from Switzerland. The move follows pressure from the island's hoteliers and tour operators as well as calls on Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech to resign in the wake of a 10-year-low decline in tourism figures.

The Maltese government had been reluctant to introduce low-cost airlines because of fears they would badly affect the national carrier, Air Malta, as well as major airlines operating to the island such as Lufthansa, Alitalia and British Airways. Around 1.1 million tourists visit Malta every year.

The Raw Story - Alternative News