20 March 2020
Dear Customers,
Thank you for your continued loyalty and trust in Air Malta in these difficult and uncertain times.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, our thoughts go out to anyone who has been affected. I hope that you, your family, friends and colleagues are well and are taking the necessary precautions to keep safe.
Our commitment and responsibility towards you have never been stronger, as we face, what are, unprecedented times. We are continuously monitoring the ever-changing circumstances and working hard to adapt to the recent developments and how to best serve you. Most importantly, each time, our aim is to keep you safe throughout any flight you take with us.
Following a decision by the Maltese Health Authorities we will suspend all our commercial services for flights departing after 23:59UTC today, Friday 20th March, until further notice.
Despite this we are doing our part to assist the Government of Malta in organising humanitarian flights to bring urgent medical supplies and cargo to the Islands whilst repatriating people to their countries.
We are doing our best to contact all customers affected in a timely manner. Our website www.airmalta.com is a key source of information, as are all our social media channels including www.facebook.com/AirMalta/, which we regularly update with information.
The safety and well-being of our employees and customers is our number one priority and we are continuously in touch with the local Health Care Authorities and following the recommended guidelines by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
Let me also share with you some actions we took during this difficult time:
• We have increased the number of staff in our customer call centre, but even with the added resources they are under pressure to answer everyone’s calls as quickly as we would like.
• We have amended our rebooking policy and will continuously review and update this policy to reflect on-going developments to allow passengers to make changes to their existing travel itinerary, increase future flexibility and facilitate planning.
• We have enhanced the cleaning frequency of the aircraft interiors and are also disinfecting them after operating repatriation flights in-line with established health and safety protocols.
• All our frontline staff have been fully briefed on essential preparatory and prevention measures. These range from hygiene measures such as sanitising frequency to guidelines on how to handle suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19.
We wish also to highlight that the airconditioned air in all our aircraft is filtered through advanced circulation systems and highly efficient filters which remove particles including bacteria and virus clusters. The efficiency of the aircraft air conditioning HEPA filters is at least 99.97% at 0.3 Micron. The cabin conditioning air enters at the top of the cabin and travels vertically downwards to leave at floor level and is designed to prevent longitudinal airflow within the cabin. This air filtration system is also used in hospitals.
Finally, as a traveller, we ask you to follow the authorities' recommendations, including washing your hands thoroughly with soap and water and avoiding touching your face and staying home as much as possible.
Thank you again for your ongoing trust in Air Malta.
Stay safe, and as always, thank you for your cooperation.
Best wishes,
Capt. Clifford Chetcuti
Air Malta Chief Executive Officer