Majority of Air Malta's new fleet will be purchased, not leased

by Franco Aloisio

The majority of Air Malta's new fleet will be purchased and not leased, Air Malta chairman Louis Grech has said. Mr Grech told The Malta Business Weekly that Air Malta will be changing its present fleet over the coming five years. At present Air Malta operates 13 planes, eight of which are leased. The company has another seven planes leased to AZZURAair. "We plan to change the present fleet gradually over the coming five years. The company has decided to purchase the majority of these planes, although some will still have to be leased," Mr Grech said.

Air Malta has still to decide which type of aircraft to purchase and the choice is between Airbus and Boeing. Mr Grech said that Air Malta will not be seeking State subsidies in purchasing the new planes.

Following the upgrade of Malta's Department of Civil Aviation, Mr Grech said that negotiations are underway with several European airline companies for a carrier to be used for the flight to New York. Mr Grech said a decision on the matter will be announced in June 2000.

Earlier this week, Air Malta announced that in the last year it recorded a pre-tax profit of Lm6.2m and carried 1.57 million passengers.

Mr Grech said Air Malta must be very cautious in seeking new strategic partnerships, especially because of the risks which a small airline faces in such alliances. However, he said discussions on such partnerships are underway.

The full interview with Louis Grech will be published in the next issue of The Malta Independent on Sunday.