KM Malta airlines replace Air Malta
12 December 2023
Is the replacement airline an improvement on Air Malta, simply a change in name or is it, as some critics would have it, a worse deal for passengers?
The premise
Years of mismanagement and successive governments' abuse led Malta's national airline Air Malta to finally call it a day. It had been haemorrhaging badly despite repeated injections of money until the EU put a stop to further financial state aid.
KM Malta
The new flag carrier of Malta is set to launch on 31 March 2024 and its website is already taking bookings.
The company spiel
“The airline is pleased to announce that it received over 122,000 bookings in just one week between 4th December and 10th December 2023 for its Summer 2024 program,”
KM Malta Airlines summer 2024 schedule (31st Mar 2024 to 26th Oct 2024) will serve 17 airports • Amsterdam
• Berlin
• Brussels
• Catania
• Dusseldorf
• London Gatwick
• London Heathrow
• Lyon
• Madrid
• Milan
• Munich
• Paris Charles de Gaulle
• Paris Orly
• Prague
• Rome
• Vienna
• Zurich.
KM Malta Airlines “will adopt a commercial strategy that is different to that which was adopted by Air Malta in the past”
Will offer passengers more flexibility in a context where “there are more passengers who are travelling for shorter but more frequent durations”
The criticism
The airline prohibits the option for carry-on luggage in its base fares, forcing customers to upgrade to get the option (see below for rates). This might very well be short lived since MEPs have been pushing for EU to scrap carry-on luggage fees.
The alternatives
Here are other airlines which fly to Malta:
• Aegean
• Air Baltic
• Air France
• Air Serbia
• Ita Airways
• Atlantic Airways
• British Airways
• Condor
• Czeck Airlines
• Easyjet
• Emirates
• Finnair
• Iberia Express
• Jet Time
• Jet2
• Lufthansa
• Luxair
• Norwegian Air Shuttle
• Ryanair
• Scandinavian SAS
• Swiss
• Transavia
• Tui Airways
• Tui Fly
• Tunisair Express
• Turkish Airlines
• Volotea
• Vueling
• Wizz Air
