How long does it take to establish an airline? To establish all the destinations it will be flying to, the front-facing infrastructure that allows passengers to buy tickets, and the back-end infrastructure that keeps it all working?
The answer to that question can be found at KM Malta Airlines, the new national airline for the Maltese Islands, which began operations on the 31st of March 2024.
“Malta is an island nation, so this airline is essential to enhance the connectivity of the islands, for outbound national citizens as well as inbound visitors and the tourism industry,” explains Roy Kinnear, Chief Commercial Officer of the new airline. “It is vital for the nation’s continued economic development that we ultimately become a successful and sustainable airline.”
Today that airline has quickly established routes to many key European hub destinations. Connecting to 18 airports across 16 European countries, including London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Amsterdam, Rome, Munich, Paris Charles de Gaulle, and more. From there, Malta is connected to the rest of the world thanks to excellent relationships KM Malta Airlines has already built with other airlines such as the Lufthansa Group, Air France, ITA Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and others.
“KM Malta Airlines provides a cog in the wheel for connection through European hubs to/from Malta, allowing customers to reach destinations in conjunction with longer haul flights,” Kinnear says. “That is our operating model.”
The airline has the youngest fleet in Europe of eight A320neo aircraft, all under 3.5 years-old, which are two-cabin aircraft with flexible business and economy cabins. Some flights may feature 180 economy seats, others may have 36 business class seats alongside 126 in economy, depending on the flight route or the day of the week.
“During peak season, we typically operate 180 weekly flights. We run our aircraft hard, winter and summer, with 12 hours flying time a day,” Kinnear tells us. “Typically, our aircraft will leave at six am in the first wave, flying two waves of daily flights with the returning second wave arriving in early evening.”
There is a 90 minute break between those waves to allow for potential Air Traffic Control (ATC) delays during the morning. It is a set-up that is serving the Maltese Islands well.
It is all very impressive, but how long does it actually take to put that service into action?
“Once we received all the necessary certifications and approvals, we had to launch the airline inside six months,” Kinnear says. “For example, we had to create a brand new website and distribution strategy from scratch.
Aviation is an incredibly regulation-led industry. We handled all of that within six months, with recognition from all the necessary regulatory authorities.”
They achieved everything they needed to do and started flying by the 31st of March 2024.
“During that first six months, our priority was for the airline to be safe, reliable, punctual and dependable,” Kinnear tells us. “We wanted to offer reliability for the summer season, then start rolling out new technological developments, ancillary offerings, and self-service in parallel after that.”
Going from a standing start to a functional airline in six months is not just impressive, but essential, as KM Malta Airlines is representing its country. That means that as well as providing a critical service, the airline is out there showcasing Maltese national identity, and KM Malta Airlines seeks to do this in every aspect of its business.
“Our business class meals provide food inspired by Maltese and Mediterranean culinary influences, served on Maltese crockery. Our staff’s uniforms show off the Maltese cross,” points out Kinnear. “We are very Maltese in our national identity.”
As well as national pride, Kinnear is also proud of the consistency and reliability that KM Malta Airlines offers.
“One of our single biggest differentiators for us as an airline is that we provide year-round, consistent schedules,” Kinnear tells us. “We aren’t an airline operator that offers a full service for two or three months of the year, while it’s profitable, then moves those planes somewhere else off-season. Our citizens need that reliable connectivity as an island nation and one that is dependent on inbound tourism. We’re not just in there for the peak summer months. We offer all of our routes, all year round.”
At the same time, KM Malta Airlines is aware of its limits. As Kinnear points out, the airline is not seeking to compete in the ultra-low cost airline space. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the airline’s business class is not trying to compete with ultra-deluxe airlines, instead offering a European-business-class model service to customers.
Of course, one of the things the airline focuses on is the people who make the airline possible.
“We are not a big organisation. We have approximately 400 employees in total. Our cabin and flight operations crew is Maltese-focused,” says Kinnear. “We focus on quality, not quantity. When we recruit, we concentrate on finding the high level of expertise and skillset we need. Some roles you can take time to grow into and develop with training, but at this early stage, we have been more focused on recruiting people with recognised skills from a wide range of international carriers.”
These are early days for KM Malta Airlines. It has been operational for only 18 months, but already the company is performing vital functions.
“Malta Health has regular requirements for its patients to receive treatment abroad, so we have planes flying regularly every day to cities that patients need to go to,” Kinnear says. “We are adding value as a key cog in the national infrastructure.”
The airline has also launched the KM Rewards loyalty program, which aims to transform the way airline loyalty programs work.
“It will embed itself in national society,” Kinnear says. “It is possible to be a member, earning and spending SkyBux, the KM Rewards currency, without even having to have bought a flight.”
Meanwhile, KM Malta Airlines is receiving its own rewards, with the airline being recognised as an APEX Four Star™ Major Airline for 2026.
As Roy Kinnear concludes, “We have got to keep our feet on the ground. We need to be sensible to become a successful, sustainable airline with consistently high standards of service to our customers.”