In mid-July 2021, Malta became the first EU country to make full vaccination against Covid-19 a basic requirement for quarantine-free entry. It has now been shown that this has a significant impact on the utilization of the flights to / from Luqa. The load factor was only 51,7 percent in the first few weeks.

In the spring, the Maltese Ministry of Tourism announced the big comeback of tourism, but the entry requirements were tightened after just a few weeks. Currently, only fully vaccinated people can enter without quarantine. Luqa Airport, a subsidiary of Flughafen Wien AG, is feeling the effects indirectly, because according to Managing Director Alan Borg, the average flight load factor in the first few weeks of August was only 51,7 percent.

"This represented a decrease of 36,3 percent compared to the same week in 2019. In addition, the demand-driven seating capacity in the first week of August 2021 decreased by 2019 percent compared to the same week in 28,5," said the Manager quoted by the Times of Malta.

Many airlines operating at the only airport in the country have reacted to the subdued demand and cut their offer. The procedure is different: some providers have reduced the frequencies, others are using smaller aircraft and in individual cases routes have been suspended - at least temporarily. But there were also unexpected developments, as some source markets, on which the airlines had high hopes, turned out to be a flop. For example, Air Malta, Ryanair and other providers have “gambled” heavily on Germany, but the number of passengers remained far below expectations. The UK, Switzerland, France and some Eastern European EU countries have performed significantly better so far.

While families with children under the age of 12 can enter the country without any problems if the parents are fully vaccinated and negative PCR tests can be presented for the offspring, it becomes a real Mission Impossible for those who have adolescents from the age of 12. The problem is that the Maltese government requires all people who are at least 12 years old to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Since the vaccination campaigns for this age group only started a few weeks ago and the interval between the two injections can be up to six weeks, this is simply not feasible for many families. As a result, there was a hail of cancellations at hotels, airlines and airlines.

Broken promise after just two weeks

Everything still looked very good in May, because Germany was able to attract an extraordinarily large number of bookings. At that time it was announced that vaccinated, convalescent and tested people could enter without quarantine. Malta opened on June 1, 2021, and requested a negative PCR test to be submitted at the time. From July 1, 2021, vaccinated persons with the EU certificate could also enter without quarantine. After just over 14 days, the language schools were closed and the 1G rule was introduced. At the same time, a new “travel card” was started that only knows red: Fully vaccinated people are allowed to enter from red countries without quarantine, and special permission from the Ministry of Health is required from dark red countries. This can order a 14-day quarantine. Anyone who does not meet the requirements will be rejected or have to be in hotel quarantine for 1.400 euros (excluding food and drink), whereby the room may not be left.

All of these circumstances have resulted in only people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 have started their holiday bookings. At Air Malta, the phones ran hot at times because many of those affected asked for their money back. At first, the state carrier behaved stubbornly and referred to the tariff conditions, but then buckled. The Times of Malta reports, citing the Ministry of Tourism, Air Malta and Malta MedAir are subordinate to the fact that in the second half of July alone, i.e. after the introduction of the 1G rule, 12 million euros had to be paid in reimbursements.

The number of new bookings is also restrained with the low-cost airlines Ryanair, Easyjet and Wizz Air. However, there are differences, because the United Kingdom and Eastern Europe were able to attract significantly more new bookings for September and October 2021 than, for example, from Germany and Austria. This can also be seen in the prices, some of which are very low from Vienna, for example.

EU countries observe Malta's 1G policy

Why should one actually keep an eye on developments in the smallest EU country? Malta voluntarily acts as a guinea pig for other governments. No other EU country has so far practiced the 1G rule and is also heavily dependent on tourism. In direct comparison with other members of the European Union, Malta has a very high vaccination coverage.

Autumn is approaching inexorably and in many countries there is already more or less open discussion about possible tightening or lockdowns only for unvaccinated people. Many politicians do not want to really pronounce it yet, but the sparrows are literally whistling from the rooftops that unpleasant things will come again in autumn and winter 2021/22. Some governments are keeping an eye on Malta, because here it can be observed whether the 1G rule prevents the introduction of infections upon entry and whether this can reduce the spread of new infections or not.

The Maltese model is of course not without controversy because it means a defacto vaccination requirement when traveling. Residents of Malta also have to meet the entry requirements on return and those who are not fully vaccinated will be quarantined for 14 days. Of course, this does not count as sick leave for the employer, but vacation days must be consumed for this. There are now many signs that some EU states could introduce the 1G rule for entry into the country, at least over the winter season, but Malta is still a “guinea pig” so far. It has been shown, however, that compulsory vaccination upon entry can lead to a collapse in air traffic utilization.