Air Malta is reacting to the fact that the United Kingdom continues to have the Republic of Malta on the Amber List. The capacity planned for London Heathrow will be reduced and relocated to the routes to Paris and Amsterdam.

The Johnson administration's travel light is highly controversial as many countries with very low incidences are rated yellow. As a result, when returning to UK vaccination and PCR test are not sufficient, but a quarantine must be entered. As a result, this also has a negative effect on demand in the aviation and tourism sectors. Ryanair and the Manchester Airports Group have since filed a lawsuit.

Air Malta actually wanted to fly between Luqa and London Heathrow at least eleven times a week from July. In the past, the route was the Maltese state carrier's top-selling route. Now you take out five presses and distribute them to Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam.

Air Malta often has to refuse boarding

According to a report in the Times of Malta, Air Malta has another “problem” right now. Since the resumption of tourism on June 1, 2021, there is an average of at least one person on every flight who does not meet the entry requirements. As a rule, boarding is refused. The most common reasons: Missing PCR test, antigen results instead of PCR results or non-Maltese vaccination certificates.

Malta is also picky when it comes to PCR tests, because the smear-taking using the gargle method, such as that used in the free all-gargle tests of the city of Vienna, is not officially recognized. The regulations state that it must be a nasopharynx smear. Air Malta has repeatedly refused boarding to passengers whose PCR results show the word “Gargle”.

If you can still fly to Malta with the Gurgel-PCR-Test, it is up to the official of the health authority whether he accepts the PCR-test or gives the immigrant the choice to do a test on site at the price of 120 euros or else to go into quarantine. In practice, however, the officials are very accommodating, as they know very well that in many countries there is no option whatsoever with regard to the way in which the smear is taken. If a vaccination can be proven on top of that, it shouldn't be a problem.

EU certificates are to be recognized from July 1, 2021

As of July 1, 2021, this “problem” should disappear in any case, because then Malta wants to apply the rules of the Green Passport when entering the country. Specifically, this means that all EU vaccination and test certificates are recognized. However, it has not yet been decided whether rapid antigen tests could also be accepted in addition to the PCR certificates. Until then, however, the following applies: Entry only with a Maltese vaccination certificate or a negative PCR result, which must not be older than 72 hours (from the smear test).