Malta Air takes first B737-8-200

 

Malta Air (AL, Malta Int'l) took delivery of its first B737-8-200 on July 14, 2021, debuting an individual branding that distinguishes it from that of its sister carrier Ryanair (FR, Dublin Int'l). 9H-VUE (msn 65876) was ferried directly from Seattle Boeing Field to Dublin Int'l, where it is awaiting service entry, currently scheduled for July 20, 2021.

The carrier already operates 120 B737-800s on behalf of Ryanair all of which feature its livery. As such, the MAX 8 marks not just operational but also a branding change for the Maltese operator.

The ch-aviation fleets advanced module indicates that five more B737-8-200s are ready for delivery Ryanair Holdings's Maltese carrier. The group previously confirmed that due to certification delays, it would induct just 12 units of the type during the Summer 2021 season, split evenly between Ryanair and Malta Air. The Irish unit took delivery of its first B737-8-200 on June 16 and began the type's commercial operations on June 26. It has already inducted all six of its units of the type planned for this summer season.

In total, Ryanair Holdings has firm orders for 210 B737-8-200s. On top of the first 12 units delivered this summer, the group is expecting a further 50 by the beginning of the Summer 2022 season. The added jets will also deliver to the group's Polish unit Buzz (where they will also be the first aircraft in that carrier's dedicated branding) and to Ryanair UK. The only group unit not currently scheduled to take the B737 MAX is Lauda Europe, which operates A320-200s.

Ryanair is one of only two customers for the B737-8-200 variant, a high-density modification of the B737-8, with the other one being VietJetAir.

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MALTA - B737 MAX8 - 9H-VUF

Brian Worthington

Ryanair adds first B737 MAX 8-200

Ryanair Holdings has taken delivery of its first, and the world's first, B737-8-200. The first of 210 of the type the Irish budget carrier holding has on order from Boeing, EI-HEN (msn 62301) was ferried from Seattle Boeing Field to Dublin Int'l on June 16.

Overall, Ryanair said that owing to delivery delays, it expects to take just twelve MAX 8-200s this summer season, split evenly between its Ryanair (FR, Dublin Int'l) and Malta Air (AL, Malta Int'l) subsidiaries.

"Ryanair expects to take delivery of an additional 50 of these B737 'Gamechanger' aircraft before Summer 2022, which will enable the Ryanair Group to rebound strongly, offering new routes, lower fares, and rapid traffic recovery to many partner airports across Europe as the tourism industry rebuilds from the devastating impact of the Covid19 pandemic in 2020/2021,” Michael O’Leary said.

The MAX 8-200 will cram in 197 passengers in an all-economy class configuration with a luxurious 28 inch seating pitch.

According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Ryanair Group operates 419 B737-800s at present of which its Irish AOC operates 250 while Buzz (RR, Warsaw Modlin) in Poland operates 46 and Malta Air operates 120. Lauda Europe (LW, Malta Int'l), in Austria, operates twenty-nine A320-200s and is the only non-Boeing operator in the group.

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Brian Worthington

Malta Air livery revealed!

 
The first Boeing 737MAX bound for Ryanair’s subsidiary Malta Air has revealed its livery. 9H-VUA was spotted leaving the production line in Renton (WA). The aircraft form part of the Ryanair Group’s firm orders for 210 737MAX aircraft due to be delivered to the low-cost carrier over the coming years.

Two aircraft have been identified, being line numbers 8003 and 8019. However, the tie-up and construction numbers are not yet known.

You may be wondering who Malta Air is, or why Ryanair is going to the trouble of apply its livery to planes. Malta Air is a subsidiary of Ryanair, within the Ryanair Group. The airline operates out of several EU bases including the likes of Cologne and Frankfurt with aircraft registered on the 9H Maltese aircraft registry. Malta Air’s existing Boeing 737s have all come from parent company Ryanair, where they were delivered in the LCC’s livery. Because the Ryanair Group operates on the low-cost model, it doesn’t make sense to pay to repaint aircraft from a financial point of view unless absolutely necessary. After all, it is an unnecessary expense.

However, an opportunity has been created with the delivery of new aircraft. These planes have to be painted anyway, so cost wise it makes no difference to Ryanair and its subsidiaries what paint scheme is applied.

Hence, a very nice red colourscheme has been applied, with a light grey cheatline, a subtle hint of (Ryanair?) yellow on the split-scimitar winglets (dubbed the 737 MAX AT winglet) and a red Maltese cross in the tail, with triangles of various shades of grey. Quite a departure from the well-known dark blue/yellow Ryanair colours.

Only one roadblock remains before Ryanair takes delivery of its first MAX. The -8200 ordered by Ryanair has separate certification requirements due to an additional emergency exit. Once this hurdle is cleared, the Irish low cost carrier is expected to rapidly deploy its new MAX aircraft across its route network.

Photos provided by Malta Aviation Outlook

Ryanair's Maltese subsidiary begins COVID-19 layoffs

Malta Air, a subsidiary of Irish holding company Ryanair Holdings, has started laying off staff due to the financial impact of the coronavirus crisis.

Due to Malta Air's three-month grounding due to the coronavirus pandemic, the company told employees that redundancies were "unavoidable". In a memo to staff sent on May 29, and seen by Malta Today, the carrier said: "We regret to inform you that due to the COVID-19 crisis and the failure of our recent discussions with the ERCs [employee representative committees] to agree reasonable pay cuts, we need to make significant cost-reductions and implement urgent restructuring to protect the viability of our Maltese base."

The memo added that terminations would begin from June 30, with a one-month notice that will be paid in full.

Approximately 20 pilots and 40 cabin crew will be made redundant, out of 179 pilots and cabin crew based on the island. A Malta Air spokesman said: "Due to COVID-19 we are facing a drop in traffic this year of up to 50%. We are doing our utmost to save jobs. We have agreed pay cuts with our pilots, which will be sufficient to avoid job losses, but our cabin crew have to date failed to accept our pay proposals, which means job losses of up to 40 cabin crew are now unavoidable."

The spokesman said the company would continue talks with cabin crew to agree on "pay efficiencies which might reduce or eliminate the need for job losses".

In a memo dated May 27 and signed by Shane Carty, head of human resources at Malta Air, the airline said the delayed recovery of traffic means it expects to carry less than 80 million passengers in 2020 compared with 150 million last year.

At the beginning of May, Ryanair Holdings announced wide-ranging job and salary cuts across all group airlines - Ryanair, Ryanair UK, Malta Air, Buzz, and Lauda. The plans could result in the loss of up to 3,000 mainly pilot and cabin crew jobs, unpaid leave, and pay cuts of up to 20%, and the closure of several aircraft bases across Europe until traffic recovers. The group blamed both the pandemic and a "distorted state aid landscape" in the European Union for the cuts.

The group expects that demand and pricing will not recover to 2019 levels before the summer 2022 season. It plans to resume more scheduled flights from July 1. In its final full-year results statement to March 31, 2020, the group said a loss of over EUR200 million euros (USD217 million) is anticipated for the first quarter and a smaller loss for the second.

Ryanair launched Malta Air in June 2019 intending to carry five million passengers from and to Malta in its first five years, but the coronavirus pandemic has scuppered these ambitions.

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Ryanair to secure Maltese AOC through Malta Air purchase

Ryanair (FR, Dublin Int'l) is set to acquire Malta Air (Malta Int'l) amid plans to initially transfer the six B737-800s it has based out of the southern Mediterranean island to the start-up carrier.

The Irish LCC has pledged to grow Malta Air to ten aircraft within a year. It will fly under its own brand from Summer 2020 and will operate all services out of its homebase on the island. Malta Air's staff will be employed under local contracts. The completion of the transaction is planned for the end of June 2019.

Transport Malta said in a statement that it had already granted an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) and an Air Operator License (AOL) to Malta Air.

Ryanair also said that going forward, it may move aircraft based in France, Italy, and Germany onto the Maltese AOC. It underlined that with a Maltese AOC, it had gained access to non-EU markets from Malta.

"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," CEO Michael O'Leary said.

The new airline is a partnership between Ryanair Holdings and the government of Malta, although ch-aviation has learned from an informed source that the authorities will only hold a 0.01% stake in the carrier.

Ryanair plans to develop Malta Air alongside the Maltese flag carrier, Air Malta (KM, Malta Int'l), and is not explicitly aiming to compete with the incumbent.

According to the ch-aviation capacities module, Ryanair currently operates 168 weekly departures out of Malta and is the largest carrier at the airport by weekly seating capacity with a 33% market share, ahead of Air Malta with 31.2%.

Malta Air will be the fourth unique AOC and brand within the Ryanair group of companies. Besides the Irish parent airline, the group also owns Lauda (OE, Vienna) in Austria and Ryanair Sun (RR, Warsaw Chopin) in Poland. The Polish carrier launched operations last year using a brand practically indiscernible from Ryanair itself but will be rebranded with a separate visual identity - Buzz (RR, Warsaw Chopin) - later this year.
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