Review of Air Malta flight Paris → Luqa in Business

Welcome to this FR covering a rare airline (KM only operates around 8 A320/320neo aircrafts) that was even supposed to disappear after the summer to stem the chronical losses and issues it faces.
After all, it seems the maltese government won't shut Air Malta down and restart a new airline from scratch.

While looking at potential destinations for this summer, it appeared 1)  I had already been often to Spain, Italy or Greece 2) Fares were outrageous, especially to Greece.
Less common destinations like Cyprus or Madeira were even more expensive. 

I finally found out that Malta was cheaper and as a bonus I had never been to this small island nation.
 Flights were roughly the same price on Transavia, Air Malta or Air France, but once the paid lugage was included, it turned out that Air Malta Business Class was cheaper than other airlines' Y class fare.

It was a no brainer, we booked Air Malta, which departs from both Paris airports, Orly and Charles de Gaulle (only a few airlines fly to both airports, AF, EZY, VY, AH and AT come to mind)

Check in had not open when we arrived 2 hours before take off, they were setting things up.
In the summer, on saturday, KM has 2 flights to Malta departing within 45 minutes.

There was a dedicated check in counter, the agent was polite but a bit rushed, he forgot to mention which lounge to use, but answered in detail when asked.  

This concourse of Orly, is only used by KM, ITA and some AF domestic flights, it was pretty quiet when we got there.

The lounge  is AF's.

While adequate for a short wait, the seating and food options are a bit basic when you spend 2 hours in the lounge as we did.
It turned out our flight was delayed, as most of KM's afternoon flights were this summer.

Here's the buffet. No real plates or glasses, everything was paper, not even a plastic glass.
Common in the US, not so much in Europe. 

Most passengers in the lounge were actually on our flight.

Boarding started 25 minutes after our take off time, it was a mess, after scanning our boarding passes, we were left to wait for 10 minutes in the jetbridge, like on a lowcost flight, even though the plane was there and passengers had gotten off a long time ago.

At least we had a partial view of our aircraft, 9H-NEC an A320neo in the airline's old livery.

We finally entered the plane, 2 FAs were greeting passengers, they seemed a bit rushed (understandable with the delay….)

A very red cabin.
There were 9 rows of J Class on that flight! I hadn't seen so many Eurobusiness rows in a long time.
We clearly weren't the only ones to have noticed the price advantage of J class to Malta. 

Closeup view of the jetbridge while boarding was still underway.

An hour behind schedule we pushed back, and after a quick taxi we reached the runway and took off

2 FAs were serving in Business class, which was full with 36 passengers.

Quickly after take off, they offered drinks, I finally got to try out Kinnie, the famous orange based Maltese soda, I loved it!
My husband went for a beer. 

Outside view on a cloudy sky

Dinner was served soon after.
Each tray was individually brought to passengers, no trolleys. 
The purser was getting the entrees out of the oven, placed them on the tray and the second FA served it immediately. 

There was no choice. It was a beef stew. 
Overall the meat tasted good, as did the cheeses. The dessert and vegetables weren't that good though.

Bread was excellent, but no butter to go with it.
Maybe you're supposed to eat it with the salad dressing found in the little bowl ? 

Air Malta is very proud to use Maltese plates and bowls with traditional designs.

It is indeed different from your usual airline tray. 

We were offered a drink refill.

The crew was constantly in the aisle, as they were clearing trays from the first row while the last row had just been served, or offering refills.

I felt they were very rushed.
I overheard one FA explaining to a passenger that there were really strong tailwinds, which meant our flight would take 1 hour and 50 minutes instead of 2, 5 hours.
They were concerned about turubulence and wanted to finish the service in  case it got too bumpy.

The Alps, as we got closer to the Mediterranean sea.

No coffee or tea were offered, or any drinks after they cleared the trays, even though we still had 1 hour before landing. 

City of Genoa 

Island of Elba near Rome

The sun started to set and the FAs turned on the Fasten Seat Belt sign about 30 minutes before landing, a bit too soon in my opinion.

 They said "No" quite curtly to some passengers who wanted to used the bathroom. 

Southern coast of Sicily as we started our descent.
 

There weren't any turbulence after all.
 

No good views of our approach, the airport is on the southern part of the island, so you basically fly over the sea until the last minute.

Landed!  

The airport was still busy at that hour, our plane was even due to fly another hop to Catania and back that night. 

We parked in front of the terminal and disembarked quickly, walking to the terminal

 

On our way, we passed this brand new A320neo 9H-NEF in the new livery which I Love,  and which we would fly on the next saturday.

Overall: mixed feelings about this flight, while the meals and drinks were tasty, and nicely served, the crew wasn't actually friendly, just doing their job as quickly as possible and then sit down for the last 30 minutes in front of everyone.

I understand it's not common for them to have once a year flyers in business class, surprised that everything was free and frequently pressing the call button, but still, no one behaved badly or drank too much.

The seat and legroom were fine for a flight of that duration. No WiFi was available, only a magazine as entertainment.