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MALTA FEATURE Airfreight marks time in Malta Cargo
and mail at Malta International Airport took a slight dip in 2010 – to 16,907 tonnes, compared with 17,504 tonnes in calendar year 2009 – in contrast to passengers, which hit a record. “Cargo has been stable,” explains business development manager Tina Lombardi. “Most of the new carriers that we have attracted have been low-cost carriers who don’t carry cargo.”
Along with Air Malta – which is undergoing an internal reorganisation – the major cargo carriers in Malta include Lufthansa, which runs a regular freighter to Frankfurt and passenger flights to a range of Germany cities, and Emirates with its regular passenger flights to its Dubai hub and onwards. However, it’s fair to say that cargo “is not a major revenue stream”,
adds the airports head of strategic planning, Alfredo Pereyra. Plans for a new cargo village at Malta Airport still exist, but they are unlikely to get off the drawing board any time in the near future, “unless a major carrier knocks on our door with a specific demand,” says Mr Pereyra.
Most of the airport’s recent
capital expenditure has been on the land-side such as business centres and a new departure hall completed last year. Libyan airfreight was never a
major factor in Malta. However, if peace breaks out and there is a major aid and reconstruction effort, that could suddenly change.
Air Malta itself is in the throes off a second restructuring plan, only two years after the government made a €52m emergency injection to stave off
bankruptcy. According to local
press reports, the carrier is set to shed around 600 employees – around half the existing total workforce - and cut the existing dozen-strong fleet to ten aircraft. The plans need to be approved by Brussels and the Government had until the end of May to submit them.
Air Malta – one of Europe’s smallest flag carriers – recently appointed Peter Davies as its new chief executive officers. FBJ readers with long memories may recall his stint at managing director of XP Express, the one- time parcels subsidiary of Dutch airline KLM, as well as senior board positions in DHL in Europe and the US.
At Lufthansa, one of the
island’s main airfreight carriers, director for Italy and Malta Thomas Egenolf, adds: “Malta is
different from other markets in continental Europe because of its unique position as an island far away from our hubs and at the same time with a prospering economy. We are glad to be present with significant capacity offer of about 40 tonnes per week. We will continue to do all possible to serve this market and the needs of our customers.” The German carrier operates a weekly freighter to its main hub in Frankfurt and frequent passenger flights with belly hold
capacity. destinations Main onward for Lufthansa are
Chicago, Singapore, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Egenolf adds: “In general Malta is a rather stable market in our portfolio. There are ups and downs of course but the changes are not as big as in other markets.”
ISSUE 3 2011
Inter-island tunnel plan mulled
The Maltese Government has commissioned a ‘pre-feasibility study’ on a road tunnel between Malta and the smaller island of Gozo. According to local press reports, the government’s transport agency, Transport Malta, says that the link could form part of the European Union’s ‘TEN’ European transport network and would hence be eligible for EU co-financing under the Cohesion fund. A number of different alignments would be studied for a three-lane tunnel, which would replace the existing inter-island ferry that operates between Mgarr and Cirkewwa and which is being modernised at a cost of around €12 million. The cost of the new road tunnel
has been put at around €150 million, according to Malta’s Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said. Many sceptics suggest that this is a wild underestimate though.
The idea of a tunnel has been
mooted before. While some local interests argue that it would boost Gozo’s economy by putting an end to its ‘island off an island’ status, others argue that it could argue harm the tourist trade by reducing Gozo’s ‘away from it all’ atmosphere.
Meanwhile the Gozo Channel Company has successfully re- tendered to operate the service from Malta – ultimately it was the only bidder – and continues to maintain a service every 45 minutes at peak times.
VGT
Valletta Gateway Terminals
Storage / Logistics
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