More than landside improvements

Last week saw the Malta International Airport Annual General Meeting (reported by us in last week’s issue). One must immediately remark that this time around, as has been the case these past years, there has been no repeat of the dangerous split among board members and shareholders as happened some years back.

The financial results spoke for themselves, as a result of the much-increased number of airlines bringing more passengers to Malta but also as a result of increased sales by the many outlets at the airport.

The medium term strategy was outlined at the AGM – more investments in landside facilities including a bigger carpark, Sky Parks 2 and 3 including a medium-size hotel and more improvements to the terminal and facilities.

This would seem to be in keeping with the MIA’s Viennese parents. Vienna Airport even has a supermarket in the basement but this idea, outlined some years ago, drew the massive negative reaction from GRTU, though that was before massive supermarkets invaded the island.

This paper and this writer, have always insisted, however, that the real growth for the airport can come from turning the airport from an end destination of passengers coming to Malta as tourists to an airport where people flying in can connect with flights going somewhere else, an airport geared to transit passengers. That is where the real potential lies.

To give but one example that has been happening these past months – Air Malta now flies to Tel Aviv. Someone must have discovered the connection between Malta and Morocco and, as a result, every Air Malta flight from Tel Aviv now carries a number of passengers who go on to board a flight to Morocco.

Another example: again relat- ing to the Tel Aviv flight. With Air Malta now stopping over in Catania on a number of flights, people in Sicily are discovering Israel is nearer to them. In fact, the Air Malta flights to Tel Aviv are now being marketed in Sicily.

This sort of strategy is already being used in the Cruise & Fly sector which every Sunday brings hundreds of tourists to Malta before they catch a cruise liner in the Grand Harbour.

One must keep the principle in view: the airport does not exist for its own sake only but also as a means to enhance the country’s economy. To this end, another of the new initiatives mentioned at the AGM merits attention – the development of a bigger cargo facility. It is a pity that the former Air Malta offices have been lent to ITS while the ITS in Pembroke is pulled down and while the new ITS at Smart City is built. This will inevitably postpone the development of that side of the airport’s hinterland for a modern cargo facility.