Universal Air (VO, Malta International) has decided to halt its scheduled services entirely and focus on other parts of its business, the carrier said in a statement on its website.
“Although Universal Air’s scheduled passenger services are ending, we remain fully operational. We continue to offer charter flight and ACMI services,” the statement said.
The airline said the last scheduled flights will take place on May 30, and passengers with bookings beyond this date will be refunded.
According to ch-aviation schedules, Universal Air's scheduled services comprise flights from Malta International to Debrecen, Ibiza, Tripoli Mitiga, and Palermo International. It also served the Debrecen-Leipzig/Halle route.
Earlier this year, it announced it would resume scheduled operations from Pecs to Malta International and Munich as of May 13, but ADS-B data shows that the flights did not take place, and those destinations are not featured in the Universal Air booking engine.
Following the news, current CEO Simon Cook reportedly announced that he will step down from the role. MAViO News, a Maltese aviation news outlet, reported that Cook informed staff that he would remain at the helm of the company pending the appointment of a successor.
ch-aviation requested additional comment on the reasoning behind the exit from scheduled operations and the impact on the fleet.
The Maltese carrier has an in-house fleet of three DHC-8-Q400s and one stored DHC-8-100. It also wet leases one DHC-8-Q400 from Shree Airlines (N9, Kathmandu).
Universal’s own ACMI services currently consist of one of its aircraft operating for SkyAlps (BQ, Bolzano/Bozen), which was pushed to turn to wet-leases, as seven out of eight of its aircraft remain grounded. However, SkyAlps announced that it expects to reactivate its entire fleet by June.
Speaking to ch-aviation in October 2024, Cook said that the carrier always wanted to keep some aircraft available for charter operations and also enter business aviation charter operations.
