Malta’s Universal Air Targets Niche Markets, Mulls New Bases

Universal Air just recently introduced a route to the freshly opened Salerno Costa d’Amalfi Airport in southerly Italy, contributing to a network from Malta International Flight terminal that includes flights to Corfu, Greece; Ibiza, Spain; Munich; Nice, France; Pécs; Palermo, Italy; and Tripoli, Libya.

It is additionally aiming to prevent competing on courses with Ryanair– which represents about 46% of the seat capacity from Malta presently, according to OAG Schedules Analyser information– but goes head-to-head with Lufthansa and KM Malta Airlines to Munich and easyJet to Nice.

“During the cold weather, we’ll see a change in paths, focusing much more on winter months tourist like snowboarding and short breaks,” Chef adds, saying the airline’s smaller sized size enables it to be nimble and respond swiftly to chances in the market. “Come next summertime, we’re expecting to see a great deal more paths than we’ve got this summer season and continue to grow as we get more aircraft in.”

Chef claims the airline company is targeting both business and leisure locations, with courses like Munich and Tripoli being prominent amongst business commuters– while others, like Corfu and Ibiza, attract holiday-makers.

He states that Universal Air is also checking out partnerships and codesharing agreements to improve connection for guests, especially on routes that connect smaller sized, underserved airports to significant hubs like Munich.

The provider was acquired in late 2021 by Andrew Walker, an investor with a portfolio that consists of Australian space company Equatorial Release Australia. Since then, the airline has actually advanced from mainly altruistic goals and charter flights with De Havilland Canada Dash 8-100s to a more diversified operation that includes set up courses and charter services utilizing Dash 8-400s.

Furthermore, Cook suggests that the airline company is assessing opening bases somewhere else in Europe. “Malta is a fairly tiny island, so we need to check out other alternatives,” he says. “If we can find the business situation that validates it, after that we have the ability to continue buying the airplane and open up bases around Europe.”