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Addition of new route from London Gatwick
Addition of new route from London Gatwick
That’s right y’all, as of March 2022, British Airways will start flying to Malta through its new Gatwick subsidiary, having chosen the Maltese Islands as one of 35 short-haul destinations!
According to the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA), the airline announced their intention to create a short-haul standalone business at Gatwick in August, similar to its operation from London City Airport, which operates under the British Airways name, but exists as a completely separate entity. The offshoot will be launching later in the year, with short-haul services at Gatwick being operated by mainline British Airways, until the new entities’ Air Operators Certificate is issued.
Short-haul flights will start operating from Gatwick at the end of March, with three Airbus short-haul aircraft at first, ramping up to 18 aircrafts by the end of May.
“Having more flight frequencies to the Maltese Islands, especially from one of our major source markets, the United Kingdom, shall be another booster for Malta’s tourism prospects in 2022,” said Clayton Bartolo, the minister for tourism and consumer protection. “Air connectivity remains pivotal to an island state like Malta and we have every intention of sustaining our commitment in attracting more airlines to the Malta International Airport for months and years to come,” he added.
“This is extremely good news for Malta, especially when considering that after the height of the pandemic, the UK confirmed itself as Malta’s top market once again,” said Leslie Vella, the CSO and deputy CEO of the MTA.
“Together with Air Malta’s route from Gatwick, UK tourists will now have the BA option, since the airline will be shifting all its operations back to Gatwick, and this will fall in line with what we have outlined in the Malta Tourism Strategy 2021-2030 vis-à-vis connectivity, which is clearly listed as a key elements which will strongly contribute not only to Malta’s short- to medium-term recovery but to the country’s longer term future-proofing towards the needs of post-pandemic tourism,” he added.
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