Review of Air Malta flight Luqa → London in Economy

Farewell Air malta!

Air Malta was formed in 1974 as the flag carrier of the small island nation, linking the island to various mainland European countries, North African nations as well as the United Kingdom which it had been apart of the British Empire until September 1964, though the modern Republic of Malta established in 1974 the year of Air Malta's launch.

During its 50 years of operations there were no fatal accidents involving Air Malta. There were two hijackings in 1981 & 1997 and a third flight, Air Malta KM180 (MLA-FRA), was the flight that originally checked in and carried the unaccompanied suitcase bomb that would ultimately be transferred to and destroyed Pan Am flight PA103 on December 21st 1988 in the infamous Lockerbie Disaster.

Based at Malta's Luqa Airport, the airline would serve the island from 1974 until the carrier wound down on March 31st 2024 where it was succeeded by a new airline in the form of KM Malta Airlines. The story of Air Malta/KM Malta Airlines is almost a very similar situation of Italy's Alitalia/ITA Airways in October 2021.

After years of losses, the European Commission prevented the Maltese Government from investing in the loss making Air Malta further, so the Government of Malta decided to close the airline and reopen the succeeding KM Malta Airlines the next day. It will take a while for changes to take place, similar to what has been seen with Alitalia/ITA Airways in Italy.

Over the years Air Malta has operated various jet aircraft types including the Boeing 720 (which it launched its operations with in 1974), Boeing 727, Classic Generation Boeing 737 (-200/-300/-400 models), Avro RJ70, Airbus A319, Airbus A320ceo & Airbus A320neo, various other aircraft types entered and left the fleet during short-term lease arrangements. But by 2024 the fleet was consisting of Airbus A320-ceo (2 aircraft) and Airbus A320NEO (6 aircraft), the most recent fleet retirement was of the Airbus A319 in 2019.

Air Malta has been a long-time fixture in London having served London Heathrow and London Gatwick for decades as well as briefly serving London Southend in the late 2010s. As one chapter of Maltese Aviation ends, another one is getting ready to sore like a pheonix!

But here's a look into my flight from Malta Luqa to London Heathrow with Air Malta about 6 weeks prior to the airline's dissolution.

Malta Airport & A belated Birthday Treat!

After spending the day sightseeing around Valletta, the capital city of Malta, I returned to the Airport by bus. It wasn't too pricey and the service runs on a regular service. The bus dropped us outside the Terminal at the main bus stands and we were only a short walk from the departures & check in entrance, arrivals are on the opposite side to the building, but its all on one level.

I had checked in online and had an e-boarding pass, but I wanted a paper one as a souvenir of my only Air Malta flight. So I did that before going airside. Overall Malta Airport is quite small and easy to navigate, I took a quick look at a departure board showcasing the diversity of routes offered by the likes of Ryanair, Air Malta (now KM Malta Airlines), easyJet and various other airlines.

The security check point didn't take long and I was through within five minutes and heading into the Schengen departure area.

I'm one of those Hard Rock Café fanatics outside of my love of aviation, and I had a birthday voucher for $25 off when I spent $50 (in this case the Euro equivalent) or more to use by the end of February as a birthday promotion through my loyalty account with them, and given Malta Airport is home to the only Hard Rock Café Airport location in Europe (other airport's only have Rock Shops without the Café), it could be seen as me enjoying a belated birthday treat as it was my birthday only 6 days earlier!

This was a brilliant end to my day trip to Malta and I really enjoyed the experience! It also gave me a new Hard Rock location to tick off.

But all good things must come to an end, I noticed a gate was allocated to my flight and I had to clear the Passport Control to exit the Schengen Area. It was time to get a taste of Air Malta!

The Air Malta Experience: KM102 (MLA-LHR)

This evening's flight across Europe was going to be operated by a relatively young Airbus A320-NEO (9H-NEC), this aircraft had spent its entire life with Air Malta since its delivery in September 2019, on March 31st 2024 it was transferred to the new KM Malta Airlines where it continues to fly, still wearing the 2012-2024 era Air Malta paint scheme. From July 2020 to August 2021 the aircraft wore additional "We're Back" stickers in response to the airline returning to service after the pandemic caused the airline to be grounded.

It was a beautiful evening in Malta at the start of the "Golden Hour" and I was very pleased to see we'd been blessed with an open boarding. I got some amazing photos of the Airbus A320neo as we boarded through the front of the aircraft. There was a stair case to allow entry through the rear for passengers seated in the rear aft of the aircraft.

My seat for this flight was Seat 10A, which provided a good forward wing and engine view for this flight, which was going to be a big help flying at night on the last hour of the flight. The seats were quite nice and sported a red leather material. Charging points were provided in these seats and a tablet holder was built in for anyone bringing their own personal IFE devices.

Having stowed my bag in the overhead locker, I had plenty of legroom for me personally, but as I'm certain anyone over 6ft tall would have a very different view on the matter!

Boarding was quickly completed with a good 80%-90% load in economy class, business class from what I could see was full across six rows. We pushed back and taxied out to the Runway I had landed on some several hours earlier for take off!

We departed Malta Airport off Runway 31 and got a very good view of Malta Luqa Airport as we rocketed out into the evening sky!

We passed over the island on our initial climb out before heading out over the vast Mediterranean Sea northbound for London!

As we settled into the flight, I had a quick flick through the Air Malta magazine, it was nice to see a fleet page (even if its only A320ceo & A320neo) as well as finding the airline's final route map for early 2024.

The inflight service began and I was one of the first people served as I was seated near the front of economy class, I was still stuffed from my dinner at the Hard Rock Café in Malta Airport, so I opted to stick to drinks in the form of a bottle of water and a can of Maltese CISK lager.

I paid a visit to the toilet during the flight, I went just over half way through and it looked in a bit of a state from various passengers using it ahead of me, which is to be expected, so I consider myself lucky it wasn't in a terrible state. Though the open and empty bottle of water was a bit of a weird find!

As we passed over Italy and France the sun began to set and turn to darkness, it allowed for some amazing views and beautiful evening photos, its little things like this that mount up into why I love flying and aviation.

Another round from the cabin crew was made for snacks and drinks, so I opted to pass the flight with a hot tea with a Kit-Kat, basic I know!

The crew had announced before departure that one of the passengers had a severe nut allergy, so no products containing nuts (like Snickers chocolate bars) could be sold or consumed during the flight.

As the night fell we closed in on the United Kingdom and began to descend around London, allowing for some amazing views of the UK's Capital city all light up like a Xmas Tree!

We landed into London Heathrow taxiing the long-way around towards Terminal 4 where Air Malta flies from at London Heathrow. We had to cross the southerly runway to access Terminal 4 which was a pretty cool experience as I've done that recently at LHR.

We came onto stand at Terminal 4 parking between an Air France Airbus A220-300 and KLM Boeing 737-NG. Some various Chinese airlines were still parked on stand awaiting their late night departures out of London Heathrow including China Southern & China Eastern.

I held back to grab some final cabin shots of the Air Malta cabin, these cabins are very much likely flying identically for KM Malta Airlines, albeit with different branding on the head rests. Overall they were okay for a 3 hour flight to the UK from Malta and the seat plugs worked fine in giving my phone a good charge up.

Departing the Air Malta aircraft, it was off to arrivals and passport control, this was my first time flying into Terminal 4 since early 2019, which is hardly surprising given that it was closed during the pandemic and the airline's I flew with from Terminal 4 migrated over to Terminal 2 & Terminal 3 until mid-2023.

My dad was going to collect me at the end of this day trip, and quite frankly neither of us wanted to entertain London Heathrow's parking fees (seriously UK Airport's are extorting the public with these), so I grabbed a train from Terminal 4's TFL Train station on the Piccadilly Line over to Hatton Cross Station, which is a Free of charge service believe it or not! Where I met him at the drop off layby for the station and it was off back to Bournemouth, where my day began at 05am!

Bonus : Click here display hide

Sightseeing in Valletta!

I opted to get to and from Valletta from Malta Airport by the bus. I used the X4 Bus service which took about 30 minutes from directly outside the Airport Terminal to the entrance of the City.

Where the bus drops you off is right next to the Triton Fountain, which was bustling with tourists, loose change littered the bottom of the fountain, which isn't uncommon in some of these major tourist fountain's as its a traditional sign of "good luck" or "making a wish".

Valletta is high on a hill, from the days of forts and Malta being a hot spot for conflict due to its strategic location in the Mediterranean Sea, but it does in the 21st Century allow for amazing views across parts of the Island, including this view taken from just off the Fountain outside the Valletta city. It is also right next to a Vintage Bus Tour stop where you can ride a Heritage Malta Bus, something I enjoyed back in 2007 & 2008 before the modern buses took over by the early 2010s!

As you enter the main city through the former city gates, one of the first buildings that greets you is the Bank of Valletta as well as the streets been adorned with Maltese flags of various designs. There are a lot of pubs, bars, fashion outlets, tourist souvenir shops and cafes along this stretch of Valletta, which is likely due to it being a massive hub for tourism.

At the end of one of the side roads, I found a series of buildings that looked like offices with a private car park, I walked to the car park to find this amazing view of Silema, the town in Malta where I mainly stayed at during my family holidays in 2007 & 2008, I could see the public transport boats that run from Silema to Valletta via the harbour as well as some private Yachts. 

I researched my hotel from 2007/08 the "Plevna" which is now a Hotel called the "1928", so I know I can go back and see how it has changed since my last visit almost 2 decades ago! Despite seeing Silema from a distance, it was nice to see it again in person.

One for the fellow and like minded aviation geeks out there!

Down one of the side alleys I found a sign which appeared to be from when there was a Travel Agent or Airline Booking Office in the city, in the days before the internet. Wow how many of these airline's are sadly no longer flying… When was the last time Qantas actually landed a plane in Malta???

Of this list at the time of writing, British Airways is the only airline featured here to still fly to Malta Luqa Airport. UTA was merged into Air France in the early 1990s, SABENA went bankrupt in 2001 and eventually was replaced by the current Brussels Airlines, Alitalia is now ITA Airways after several bankruptcies and relaunches, Qantas is going strong but hasn't flown scheduled services to Malta at least in my lifetime.

It was a very warm afternoon, at least by British standards, so I was very keen to enjoy a gelato whilst strolling around Valletta, which I did.

I spied a few more buildings and landmarks in Valletta including the Valletta City Hall, St George's Square and passing the island's China Town.

One thing I love about Malta is its culture is a mix of its Italian, North African and British colonial heritages.

I was heading over to the bus stop I needed for the X4 back to Malta Luqa Airport, when I came across this amazing view of the Malta Harbour, I even noticed a massive cruise ship in dock for maintenance work! What a stunning view!

I had a good 3 hours in the City of Valletta, not enough time to do anything other than wonder around, but it was nice to get refamiliarized with Malta on my day trip and I have to put my tongue in cheek here, I preferred doing this than staying at the Airport plane spotting!

One thing I am very certain of… I won't be waiting 16 years to come back, and next time it'll be more than simply a day trip!

It was a seamless journey back to Malta Luqa Airport on the X4 Bus, and that is where I pick up at the beginning of this Flight Report!