Air Malta’s aggressive advertising campaigns in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and other core markets are generating exceptional results. The Maltese airline has experienced sharp increases in traffic in these last months notably from the UK, Italian, French, German and Austrian routes.

Over the last four months from August until November this year Air Malta has increased its passengers on its UK routes by an average 8% points every month over the same period last year. The Italian market has seen an average 18% increase over the last 7 months compared to 2006, while France has seen a 13% increase in the last 3 months over the same period last year. The German market registered an average 10% increase in passengers in the last 5 months over the year 2006.

Sales on Air Malta’s scheduled network for November 2007 alone has increased by 11% when compared to the same period of last year. December bookings have already surpassed last year’s flown traffic and indications are that this month Air Malta will register around 14% increased traffic over December 2006.

“These results can be attributed to the aggressive Air Malta advertising campaigns in Europe. Our integrated marketing communications campaigns have focused on the short break market segment and the ‘extension’ of the traditional summer season to the off-peak shoulder months with an increased emphasis on individual traffic”, said Dr Brock Friesen, Air Malta’s Chief Officer Commercial. 

“Sales through Air Malta’s portal and Internet Booking Engine have increased considerably this year, and have grown by around 5 times from last year’s sales figures. Customers like the simplicity and transparency of our competitive pricing and absence of hidden charges,” he added.

“Air Malta’s total advertising spend on its core markets during these last months has been of around Euro 700,000. Together with the support of the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA), the airline commissioned TV spots, various adverts on print media, billboards, and adverts on popular internal web portals. Both Air Malta and MTA are closely working together to continue improving on this positive trend”, added Dr Friesen.

In the UK, Air Malta has recently launched a major advertising campaign - the ‘Malta Break Escape’. The campaign presented an unbeatable travel offer with prices starting from GBP69.00 return (includes taxes and charges). Two television campaigns on Sky News for a total of 12 weeks were booked including banner advertising on the popular Sky News portal. Extensive print media campaigns were carried on daily London and National papers that included full page colour adverts on the prestigious Times of London, board advertising in Goodison Park stadium of Everton Football Club, at the Anfield Road Stadium of Liverpool FC, in the Metro gazette distributed free of charge on the London Underground rail together with poster ads on London Underground trains. Air Malta together with the MTA also hosted various UK based journalist to Malta to participate in the various activities held on the islands during the last months including the Middle Sea Race.

In Italy’s major cities of Milan, Bologna, Rome, and Catania, Air Malta’s campaigns included advertising on newspapers together with sms and mms messaging. In France advertising mediums used included newspapers, radio and adverts on the metro gazette - the freely distributed newspaper on Paris’ underground trains. In Germany, Air Malta carried adverts in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich on radio and daily newspapers.

“Last summer we took also took the bold decision to increase seat capacity on core markets. On the German market Air Malta increased the number of seats by no less than 27% and floated 5% more seats on the UK market. On the Italian market Air Malta increased seats by 39%. Capacity on the Rome route alone was increased by 52%.

“These decisions, coupled with the extensive advertising campaigns all over Europe show that the increased passenger figures registered recently are not merely a coincidence but are the result a fresh new commercial strategy based on extensive market research which Air Malta has embarked on. This is an achievement we at Air Malta are all proud of”, concluded Dr Friesen.

 

The code-share agreement signed with Lufthansa in November 2006 also continued to show very positive results last summer. Both carriers are offering 3 daily non-stop flights to the Frankfurt and Munich hubs with connectivity to all German regional airports and offline European, American and Asian airports. This code-share agreement has generated substantial new traffic into Malta with positive direct impact on the tourism industry. As from last summer the code-share agreement, which initially was solely operative on the direct Malta - Frankfurt and Malta - Munich routes, has been extended to all German regional routes and on the non-stop daily services from Munich to the American airports of New York’s John F. Kennedy and Washington Dulles. All these developments have increased extensively the accessibility to the Maltese islands from major European and International airport hubs.

With full service treatment, a brand new environmentally friendly aircraft fleet with an average age of only 2.5 years together with quality in-flight entertainment, Air Malta is making sure that it continues to be the best value focused carrier operating the Malta route. No other airline is serving the country and its tourism industry as Air Malta.