NEWS | Wednesday, 21 November 2007

BritishJet to stop flying in May

Charlot Zahra

BritishJet, Malta’s first low-cost airline launched more than two years ago, will be stopping its airline operations as from 1 May next year after its parent company, Malta Bargain Holidays, reached an agreement with the national airline which will see the latter becoming Malta Bargain Holidays’s exclusive aircraft transport provider.
As a result of this deal, which was announced last Thursday in a joint statement by Malta Bargain Holidays and Air Malta, the national airline will be expanding considerably its operations to the United Kingdom (UK), gaining around 60,000 passengers that until now flew on BritishJet.
Asked by BusinessToday what has led Bargain Holidays to reach an agreement with Air Malta to carry its tourists rather than continue operating its own airline after only two years of operation, given the airline had won significant share of the UK-Malta route, Robby Borg, Malta Bargain Holidays’ Managing Director said:
“For three years I tried to add another aircraft but the Maltese market is very small – we and Air Malta had flights departing Malta at 08.10 to Gatwick and on many occasions we had half a flight each.
“Therefore it was not economically practical and it was morally unacceptable when 2 aircrafts burn 18 tons of fuel each for a return flight to London when one can put all passengers on one flight.
“Air Malta gave me a very good deal so it was a commercial decision as it was in the interest of both companies,” he said.

Asked how badly did the entrance of other low-cost carriers such as Ryanair last year affect the feasibility of British Jet and whether there were other factors that impinged on British Jet’s long-term survival, Borg said:
“The entrance of Ryanair did not affect us that much - it was GB the franchise of BA that affected us most as we were at all times fearing the competition.
“Now they were taken over by Easyjet and we reached the agreement with Air Malta. Also the rise in fuel costs had a devastating affect on all airlines,” Borg told BusinessToday.
Asked whether BritishJet will close down as a result of the agreement with Air Malta and what will be the fate of BritishJet flight crew and reservation staff, Borg said:
“No, BritishJet will not close down - it will become the trading name of Malta Bargain Holidays, which had been operating from the UK to Malta and other countries for the last 25 years.
“The contract of the 15 Maltese crew members ends at 30 April next year but at that time of the year Air Malta employs new crew so they said it shouldn’t be a problem for Air Malta to employ them. All the other crew are Swiss so they go back with the airline company.
“The reservation staff and all other staff that works in the hotels of the group will continue with their job as normal.
Asked how many passengers will Air Malta gain on the British market as a result of the agreement with Bargain Holidays, Borg told BusinessToday: “Air Malta will gain around 60.000 passengers.
“Bargain Holidays will add another 2 airports – Heathrow and Liverpool – on top of the 11 airports BritishJet had up to now and more flexibility, as we will have a number of seats on most Air Malta flights, so we can offer dates to our passengers.”
On its part, Air Malta was rather cagey in its reaction to the agreement with Malta Bargain Holidays. Asked for the national airline’s reaction to this announcement – now that a competing airline on the Malta-Britain route has decided to join forces with you after competing for the past three years – and whether this announcement was a sign of consolidation in the local airline market after the entrance of low-cost carriers such as Ryanair, a spokesperson for the national airline referred us to the joint press statement issued last Thursday.
In their joint statement, Air Malta and Malta Bargain Holidays described the deal as “a win-win agreement (…) that will also benefit the local tourism industry and economy”.
“This agreement is expected to considerably increase Air Malta’s operations to London Gatwick Airport and other regional airports in the UK. Air Malta will thus be announcing new scheduled frequencies to the UK in the coming weeks, after slot approvals from the respective airports.
“The new Air Malta operations coupled with the airline’s existing schedule and charter network from the UK are expected to be also positively received by Malta Bargain Holidays’s customers.
“Since Malta Bargain Holidays has chosen Air Malta as its exclusive air transport supplier, this will result in an added benefit to the Maltese economy in that there will be no foreign exchange leakages,” the statement added.
Asked by BusinessToday how many passengers will Air Malta gain on the British market as a result of the agreement with Bargain Holidays, and a
break-down of passengers for each route, the spokesperson for the national airline replied curtly: “The amount of traffic that this agreement will generate is commercially sensitive information which Air Malta would not like to divulge.”
When BritishJet was launched on 1 May 2005, there were with a lot of expectations that the airline would take on Air Malta head-on at a time when the average price of a return Air Malta ticket to the UK in the peak season was still close to Lm200.
Speaking during an interview at the eve of the launch of BritishJet on 20 January 2005, Borg had said: “I decided to go for an airline because my direct competitors in the UK and other destinations have their own airline.
“Air Malta, which is an airline, has its own tour operations, while the large tour operators like First Choice, My Travel and Thompson have their own airline.
“I was at a bigger disadvantage because the majority of flights I had were night flights,” Borg had explained.
Only last May, when BritishJet launched its Winter 2007 schedule, Borg was still sounding upbeat about the airline’s fate. He announced a low-cost “double-destination package” starting at London, continuing in Malta and ending up in Egypt, subject to approval by the Maltese and Egyptian authorities.
He even hinted at the possibility that BritishJet would run flights to Libya, possibly from the UK.
BritishJet leased and operated a McDonnell Douglas MD90 aircraft that was owned and flown by Swiss airline Hello to Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, East Midlands, Birmingham, Cardiff, Bristol, Luton, London Heathrow, London Gatwick, London Stansted and Exeter.

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