Air Malta had a 3 year agreement with XL, which began in 2005, and was planned to continue until October 2008. Air Malta operated a number of flights on behalf of the Tour Operator from the UK to various destinations including the Canary Islands, Spanish Mediterranean Resorts, the Greek Islands, Cyprus, Red Sea Resorts, Turkey and to a number of skiing destinations.

Air Malta has received payments with respect to all flights effected on XL’s behalf to date.

In view of these developments, Air Malta is in close contact with the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) which is coordinating the repatriation of the XL clients stranded in various countries. The Maltese airline will be assisting the CAA should the need arise.

An XL weekly operated charter flight Newcastle – Malta – Newcastle will now be operated by an Air Malta aircraft at the planned schedule. Air Malta will continue to operate this flight every Tuesday until the end of the planned charter series up to the 28th October 2008. This means that there are no passengers stranded in Malta, and tourist arrivals will not be affected negatively.

Air Malta is concerned seeing that although that fuel prices have recently fallen slightly today’s current sky high fuel prices are continuing to have a severe negative effect on the bottom line and financial performance of airlines and aviation businesses globally.

The airline industry, together with its customers, was hit hard by the prices of Jet Fuel that the airlines had to pay this summer. The price of Jet Fuel has seen sharp increases in prices, greater than the increases in the prices of Crude Oil. The cost of fuel has now become the major threat to the aviation industry globally.