(Not sure if this has been discussed before)

According to ATW, Air Malta will receive 2 A321XLRs in 2024 and plans to begin long haul services from the island to India and New York.

https://atwonline.com/airports-routes/a ... rvice-2024

Makes more sense then the old days of some of the smaller players having a single 330,767 or 777 just to serve JFK. If they can cycle the aircraft through short haul too like EI does they will get some decent utilisation out of it

smi0006 wrote:

Makes more sense then the old days of some of the smaller players having a single 330,767 or 777 just to serve JFK. If they can cycle the aircraft through short haul too like EI does they will get some decent utilisation out of it

If they want to serve NYC and India with 2 A321XLR, the aircraft will have their hands full already, no need to add short haul.

I doubt that Air Malta will survive that long though, at least not in its current form.
They'll probably be absorbed by then, their balance sheet is basically insolvent.

Because connecting India and the U.S. is such a revolutionary idea.

Saludos,
Alex

I’m really not convinced that this is such a good idea, what sort of demand is there on these routes, while the 321XLR is a good aircraft for the job this really smacks of vanity project to me, which with these smaller state owned carriers haven’t ever gone particularly well
Good luck to them, they’ll need it.

Waterbomber2 wrote:

I doubt that Air Malta will survive that long though, at least not in its current form.
They'll probably be absorbed by then, their balance sheet is basically insolvent.

Agreed, especially with the Maltese/ Ryanair Malta Air starting next year.

How much of a business link is there between Malta and India ? I would guess not a lot
If Air Malta are launching these 2 routes purely to compete in the US-India market, I think they will end up just the bargain hunters as passengers while the likes of BA or LH take the high fare pax and profitability might be challenging

davidjohnson6 wrote:

How much of a business link is there between Malta and India ? I would guess not a lot
If Air Malta are launching these 2 routes purely to compete in the US-India market, I think they will end up just the bargain hunters as passengers while the likes of BA or LH take the high fare pax and profitability might be challenging

Malta is a popular olace for rich people to get residency and India is a nation with relatively lots of new riches in absolute number so I guess there are some demand?

To buy a Maltese passport and thus gain EU citizenship rights requires you own or rent a property in Malta and gain legal residency, but does not require that a person actually lives there (well, maybe 1 night just as a token effort). If you can afford to pay 1 million euros for a passport but own a business in India, you are unlikely to be visiting Malta very often

Good luck! I wonder who's next? Aegean, airBaltic, Luxair, maybe Icelandair too, the A321XLR is perfect to help expand in the US & Canada and introduce flights to India & the Middle East.

davidjohnson6 wrote:

How much of a business link is there between Malta and India ? I would guess not a lot
If Air Malta are launching these 2 routes purely to compete in the US-India market, I think they will end up just the bargain hunters as passengers while the likes of BA or LH take the high fare pax and profitability might be challenging

I think that they might be planning on getting transit passengers from North Africa (Tunisia, Morocco, maybe even Libya) as well as places like Spain (Barcelona and Madrid) and that could be part of the rationale for these long-haul flights. They're right not to buy a sub-fleet of 777s or A330s though. They can do it at a much lower cost and with lower volumes using the A321neo.

abrelosojos wrote:

Because connecting India and the U.S. is such a revolutionary idea.

Saludos,
Alex

This. Adding LH flying is just going to make KM fail faster...

One of the dumbest ideas I’ve heard in 2019.

What is a realistic load that the A321XLR can carry year round between MLA and the East Coast of the US?
Can it really do it with 200 pax even in winter?

Yes.
By 2024 KM will have been relegated to aviation history books by at least a couple of seasons.

dcajet wrote:

(Not sure if this has been discussed before)

According to ATW, Air Malta will receive 2 A321XLRs in 2024 and plans to begin long haul services from the island to India and New York.

https://atwonline.com/airports-routes/a ... rvice-2024

India is going to be tough.

But trans-Atlantic should be quite viable, to NYC, BOS, YYZ etc. to capture the tourist traffic.

Maybe their rational is that these newly minted Maltese might like to come visit, the Mediterranean is quite nice.

I will believe this when I see it

Over the years Air Malta have been connected with many attempts at long haul flights, in the early 90's a 767 was rumored for flights to Australia via Bangkok due to large Maltese diaspora in Melbourne. Air Malta was linked to an ex Air Inter A330 when they disposed of these and also a DC-10 along with buying the South African airline Avia which had a 747-SP. I don't know how many of these where even close to reality.

Air Malta has leased 2 A310's, D-AICM in 1994 and when this was returned OO-SCI however both where 200's and the longest routes these flew where to Dubai and Bahrain along with the usual European destinations. Many thought this would lead to the purchase of their own wide-bodies but when OO-SCI was returned the Gulf routes where operated by A320's. Balkan flew to New York JFK with Malta as a stop from Sofia using their 767-200s in the 90's and American Trans Air flew one short summer season on behalf of Air Malta from JFK to Malta via Shannon using a 757 - i think this was in 2000.

Malta is a very different and richer place now to when these attempts took place, however Malta is also better connected to the Gulf via Emirates and Qatar and to European hubs via Turkish and Lufthansa so Air Malta would be competing with these services. I was under the impression Air Malta was looking at sub-Saharan Africa as this can be flown by the existing fleet and the expanding A320neo fleet in a similar vain to TAP capturing Europe-Africa transfer traffic so if we do see long-haul I expect it to be southwards.

amc737

raylee67 wrote:

dcajet wrote:

(Not sure if this has been discussed before)

According to ATW, Air Malta will receive 2 A321XLRs in 2024 and plans to begin long haul services from the island to India and New York.

https://atwonline.com/airports-routes/a ... rvice-2024

India is going to be tough.

But trans-Atlantic should be quite viable, to NYC, BOS, YYZ etc. to capture the tourist traffic.

DEL-MLA - 3165nm no large bodies of water.
MLA-JFK - 3997nm mostly over the Atlantic Ocean.
XLR published range - 4700nm.

Assuming MLA is not an expensive, congested super hub compared to western European super hubs, the DEL-JFK route should be financially viable and competitive.

It's not such a bad idea, if they make it that far. Between North Africa, Greece, Italy including Sicily and Sardena, there's a lot of connecting traffic potential from NYC, especially as a seasonal Summer route. I could see them operate to NYC in the Summer and India in the Winter, hence only 2 aircraft.

I think given the recent turmoil over a journalist being killed by a car bomb that the rules about buying passports is going to change.

airbazar wrote:

It's not such a bad idea, if they make it that far. Between North Africa, Greece, Italy including Sicily and Sardena, there's a lot of connecting traffic potential from NYC, especially as a seasonal Summer route. I could see them operate to NYC in the Summer and India in the Winter, hence only 2 aircraft.

Air Malta does not fly to Greece nor it will ever fly anymore as both Thessaloniki and Athens are served by Ryanair and in all likelihood they will not be competing with them in the mid-term.

It was mentioned a few times that it makes sense for Air Malta to acquire the XLR. It was even in the press that they were interested in the XLR before the plane was officially announced.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/martinrivers/2019/02/13/air-malta-outlines-5-year-fleet-plan-including-a321xlr/#181261a3357a

Apart from the leisure traffic from the US there is quite a lot of business traffic. Air Malta is part of Star Alliance so they could have a bit of connecting traffic to central Europe as well.

Draken21fx wrote:

airbazar wrote:

Air Malta is part of Star Alliance so they could have a bit of connecting traffic to central Europe as well.

No, Air Malta isn't a member of Star Alliance. They have some codeshares with LH, LX, etc and you can earn miles for the miles and more programm.

LX2990 wrote:

Draken21fx wrote:

airbazar wrote:

Air Malta is part of Star Alliance so they could have a bit of connecting traffic to central Europe as well.

No, Air Malta isn't a member of Star Alliance. They have some codeshares with LH, LX, etc and you can earn miles for the miles and more programm.

And there is zero incentive for UA/LH (or any of the big US3/EU3) to partner up closely with them TATL.

I did work with Air Malta many years ago. They were run like a scheduled charter carrier. Something like 75% of their business was package tours. The majority of their direct sales traffic was grabbing lucrative Libyan traffic during the sanctions and snagging full fare Y tickets. I assume that's mostly over. Malta is beautiful, but they don't have great beaches and it reminded me of spring break with all the drinking during school holidays in Northern Europe. Can't imagine there's much traffic outside summer for TATL operations.

Might make sense for them to add a daily JNB... capitalise on some of the Southern Europe - Africa traffic, as well as the JFK traffic.

I would not regard Malta as primarily a beach destination, even during the Summer.

It does have a lot of heritage, a good climate and everyone speaks English.

Being of Indian Heritage, can confirm that Bollywoods expansion beyond the chocolate box Swiss villages into the Mediterranean, into places like Monaco and Malta has opened up the motivation of upper middle class types to visit these places.
But then again, these are people that can afford Y+ or Business, and are quite fussy service, ie they regularly complain about EU3 vs ME3. But to caveat, this is just my experience.

On a more objective note, are there any O&D numbers out there on movement between JFK/DEL and MLA?

dtw2hyd wrote:

raylee67 wrote:

dcajet wrote:

(Not sure if this has been discussed before)

According to ATW, Air Malta will receive 2 A321XLRs in 2024 and plans to begin long haul services from the island to India and New York.

https://atwonline.com/airports-routes/a ... rvice-2024

India is going to be tough.

But trans-Atlantic should be quite viable, to NYC, BOS, YYZ etc. to capture the tourist traffic.

DEL-MLA - 3165nm no large bodies of water.
MLA-JFK - 3997nm mostly over the Atlantic Ocean.
XLR published range - 4700nm.

Assuming MLA is not an expensive, congested super hub compared to western European super hubs, the DEL-JFK route should be financially viable and competitive.

No, I mean from the business perspective, not from technical perspective. DEL-MLA is definitely viable for the XLR technically. There are no oceans between MLA and DEL, but there are DXB, DOH and AUH between MLA and DEL.

qm001 wrote:

Might make sense for them to add a daily JNB... capitalise on some of the Southern Europe - Africa traffic, as well as the JFK traffic.

Malta has become one of the more popular countries for South Africans to obtain second citizenship. Through MLA connections can be done easily (and perhaps be some of the fastest 1-stop options) between South Africa and all of Europe (not just southern Europe) and even Tunisia.

However, will the A321XLR be able to do this...off JNB's higher altitude and needing to circumnavigate Libya? Daily perhaps a stretch, maybe 3 or 4 weekly.

Polot wrote:

Waterbomber2 wrote:

I doubt that Air Malta will survive that long though, at least not in its current form.
They'll probably be absorbed by then, their balance sheet is basically insolvent.

Agreed, especially with the Maltese/ Ryanair Malta Air starting next year.

If Ryanair - Malta airlines are going provide feed they'll be needing larger aircraft. lets hope the air malta pilots don't throw more tantrums

raylee67 wrote:

dtw2hyd wrote:

raylee67 wrote:

India is going to be tough.

But trans-Atlantic should be quite viable, to NYC, BOS, YYZ etc. to capture the tourist traffic.

DEL-MLA - 3165nm no large bodies of water.
MLA-JFK - 3997nm mostly over the Atlantic Ocean.
XLR published range - 4700nm.

Assuming MLA is not an expensive, congested super hub compared to western European super hubs, the DEL-JFK route should be financially viable and competitive.

No, I mean from the business perspective, not from technical perspective. DEL-MLA is definitely viable for the XLR technically. There are no oceans between MLA and DEL, but there are DXB, DOH and AUH between MLA and DEL.

Air Malta trip cost with two NB legs would be far less than EK/EY/QR two WB legs (or one NB + one WB legs for EY/QR).

As long MLA airport fees for NBs are cheaper than DXB/AUH/DOH WB/NB fees, I don't see why it wouldn't be viable. Sure initially volume will be less, but as it gets all XLRs it can build a decent network. I doubt ME3 can beat them on cost.

As long as Air Malta can serve inflight Indian food and don't treat Indian PP holders like crap during IRROPS like Air France, I see potential. Malta being an Island has an advantage, transit visa jumpers cannot disappear like in mainland Europe. Not sure how many did from Paris, but seems to give Air France and French immigration nightmares.

So just one aircraft per route, that's gonna push the reliability factor to the max.

Draken21fx wrote:

airbazar wrote:

It's not such a bad idea, if they make it that far. Between North Africa, Greece, Italy including Sicily and Sardena, there's a lot of connecting traffic potential from NYC, especially as a seasonal Summer route. I could see them operate to NYC in the Summer and India in the Winter, hence only 2 aircraft.

Air Malta does not fly to Greece nor it will ever fly anymore as both Thessaloniki and Athens are served by Ryanair and in all likelihood they will not be competing with them in the mid-term.

It's 4 years in the future. Things change.

dtw2hyd wrote:

raylee67 wrote:

dtw2hyd wrote:

DEL-MLA - 3165nm no large bodies of water.
MLA-JFK - 3997nm mostly over the Atlantic Ocean.
XLR published range - 4700nm.

Assuming MLA is not an expensive, congested super hub compared to western European super hubs, the DEL-JFK route should be financially viable and competitive.

No, I mean from the business perspective, not from technical perspective. DEL-MLA is definitely viable for the XLR technically. There are no oceans between MLA and DEL, but there are DXB, DOH and AUH between MLA and DEL.

Air Malta trip cost with two NB legs would be far less than EK/EY/QR two WB legs (or one NB + one WB legs for EY/QR).

As long MLA airport fees for NBs are cheaper than DXB/AUH/DOH WB/NB fees, I don't see why it wouldn't be viable. Sure initially volume will be less, but as it gets all XLRs it can build a decent network. I doubt ME3 can beat them on cost.

As long as Air Malta can serve inflight Indian food and don't treat Indian PP holders like crap during IRROPS like Air France, I see potential. Malta being an Island has an advantage, transit visa jumpers cannot disappear like in mainland Europe. Not sure how many did from Paris, but seems to give Air France and French immigration nightmares.

US - India flights are already extremely cheap for the distances involved so I really don't see how KM could possibly successfully compete. I can buy a JFK-DEL leaving today for $1200 rt going as low as $700 rt with advance purchase. How much lower can you go? Not to be mean but I remember you thought WOW flying to India was a great idea and we all saw the disaster that was (most of us saw it coming).

dtw2hyd wrote:

Air Malta trip cost with two NB legs would be far less than EK/EY/QR two WB legs (or one NB + one WB legs for EY/QR).

As long MLA airport fees for NBs are cheaper than DXB/AUH/DOH WB/NB fees, I don't see why it wouldn't be viable. Sure initially volume will be less, but as it gets all XLRs it can build a decent network. I doubt ME3 can beat them on cost.

As long as Air Malta can serve inflight Indian food and don't treat Indian PP holders like crap during IRROPS like Air France, I see potential. Malta being an Island has an advantage, transit visa jumpers cannot disappear like in mainland Europe. Not sure how many did from Paris, but seems to give Air France and French immigration nightmares.

I think Air Malta is going to target North American tourists to Malta, not transit passengers. By just having 2 XLRs, they are not able to serve even 1 daily NYC and 1 daily DEL together. The schedule would most likely be 2 to 3 times a week to several North American gateways. The airline is fully owned by the government and has an implicit mandate to "benefit" the local economy on top of its objective as a pure business. By bringing in premium paying tourists, it would help Malta much more than trying to compete with ME3 and TK for India bound passengers. Similarly, their flights to India will target Indian tourists into Malta, hence again probably 1 or 2 weekly to DEL only, may be BOM too. And the schedule of those flights will not be timed to connect with each other.

They won't say no to someone trying to buy a connection ticket, but will probably not price specifically to target that segment. Not at first anyway. Once they start to build up some success, they may try to throw in some connection packages with a few days of lay-over in Malta, similar to what Icelandair does for EU-NA flights. That would only happen if they build up to have 10-20 XLRs and have sufficient capacity to do so.

I haven't experienced French immigration, but the German and the Finns are good, fast and polite. I suppose you have had bad experience at CDG? You can always connect through Asia too. HKG, SIN, ICN and NRT all provide one-stop connection between US gateways and India.

raylee67 wrote:

I think Air Malta is going to target North American tourists to Malta, not transit passengers. By just having 2 XLRs, they are not able to serve even 1 daily NYC and 1 daily DEL together. The schedule would most likely be 2 to 3 times a week to several North American gateways. The airline is fully owned by the government and has an implicit mandate to "benefit" the local economy on top of its objective as a pure business. By bringing in premium paying tourists, it would help Malta much more than trying to compete with ME3 and TK for India bound passengers. Similarly, their flights to India will target Indian tourists into Malta, hence again probably 1 or 2 weekly to DEL only, may be BOM too. And the schedule of those flights will not be timed to connect with each other.

I see a MLA-NYC as a business development route in addition to tourism.

Malta is growing based on two pillars: 1) tourism and 2) favorable tax environment within the EU.

So they are trying to become a Luxembourg of the Mediterranean. To achieve that having a non-stop flight to one of the largest financial centers of the world - New York (which LUX has been trying to get for years without success)- is a good selling point.

Polot wrote:

Waterbomber2 wrote:

I doubt that Air Malta will survive that long though, at least not in its current form.
They'll probably be absorbed by then, their balance sheet is basically insolvent.

Agreed, especially with the Maltese/ Ryanair Malta Air starting next year.

Malta Air is backed by the Maltese government. I don't think it is that stupid. It has lower costs than Air Malta and the power of Ryanair to open new markets in indisputable. New markets = more tourists to Malta.

For instance, Ryanair/Malta Air started a 2 weekly MLA-SCQ last month with a 89% load factor... in winter season. Only Ryanair could achieve that.