Ryanair Holdings confirmed (11-Jun-2019) it has agreed to purchase Malta Air, a Maltese start up airline. Details include:
- Ryanair will transfer its Malta based fleet of six Boeing 737 aircraft to Malta Air;
- Transfer onto the the Maltese register represents an investment of more than USD600 million into the new airline;
- 200 Malta based crew will move onto local contracts paying Maltese taxes;
- Plans to increase Malta based fleet to 10 aircraft within three years and create more than 350 jobs;
- Repaint and rebrand its Malta based fleet in Malta Air livery for summer 2020;
- Move Ryanair based aircraft from France, Italy and Germany onto the Malta AOC which will allow these crews to pay their income taxes locally in France, Italy and Germany instead of Ireland where they are currently required to pay income taxes under the group's Irish AOC.
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary commented: "Malta Air will proudly fly the Maltese name and flag to over 60 destinations across Europe and North Africa as we look to grow our Maltese based fleet, routes, traffic and jobs over the next three years... And we look forward to working closely with the Maltese authorities over the coming years as we hope to add over 50 more aircraft to the Maltese register". Ryanair will also work closely with the Malta Tourism Authority, Maltese Civil Aviation Directorate and Maltese Government to launch the new carrier. [more - original PR] [more - original PR - II]