Wizz Air and Ryanair attracted by tax benefits – Corriere.it

One of the smallest island-states in the world, with a population of just over half a million, has recently become the place of fiscal “domicile” for over 750 passenger planes – three times the number of hotels and authorized restaurants -, most of which is owned by the main European low-cost airlines Ryanair and Wizz Air, but also Eurowings Europe, the subsidiary of the Lufthansa group. Welcome to Malta, land of sea, sun and now of Airbus and Boeing.

In the Mediterranean

The race in the heart of the Mediterranean has only one explanation: tax advantages. The island guarantees low registration fees, no taxation on revenues registered abroad, incentives on rental fees and spare parts, a fixed 15% employee tax. For this reason the jets – which can also carry over 200 people – do fly with registrations starting with “9H” (that of Malta, in fact) but physically stationed elsewhere. In Italy or Greece, Portugal or Spain or France.

The list

A 39-page document, updated to May 30 of this year and consulted by Courier, shows that there are 827 aircraft, helicopters and ultralights registered: of these only the aircraft – commercial and private – are 758. In 2000, just to get an idea, the island had registered just 27 vehicles. There are also an Airbus A380, the most capacious aircraft ever built, seven Boeing 747s and fourteen A340s, more than half of those now left in circulation in the world of a model that has now disappeared.

Low cost moves

Ryanair, the leading low-cost airline in Europe and the second in the world, was one of the first passenger transport companies to exploit its potential. So much so that in June 2019 it bought Malta Air, an unknown company on the island (not to be confused with Air Malta, the flag carrier), to immediately have the «Coa», the air operator certificate and therefore start registering the planes there. Today at least 181 aircraft, according to official documents, are registered in the country between Malta Air’s Boeing 737-800, Ryanair’s Boeing 737 Max and Lauda Europe’s Airbus A320, based in Vienna and then transferred to Malta.

The carriers

Shortly after the peak of the pandemic, in September 2022, Wizz Air – Ryanair’s rival – also obtained a “Coa” in Malta. There are at least 60 Airbus A320neo and A321neo in the livery of the Hungarian low cost, but flying the white-red flag. A few weeks earlier, in July 2022, the Lufthansa group moved the registration of Eurowings Europe’s A319 and A320 from Austria to Malta: as of May 30, all 20 aircraft in the division were “domiciled” at the CF Business Centre, Triq Gort St. Julians, Malta. Also appearing are the Italian Aeroitalia – which manages part of the Sardinian territorial continuity – with 5 Boeing 737 and the Bolzano-based Sky Alps (2), charter carriers such as Corendon (10 aircraft), SmartLynx (28) and Air X (21). An important slice is characterized by private jets where the 93 Bombardier of Vistajet stand out.

The benefits

The Kpmg consultancy firm and the local Ministry of Transport list various advantages for companies that decide to register aircraft in Malta. The small European state adheres to the Cape Town Convention which offers international guarantees on movable capital goods such as aircraft. Furthermore, Valletta is under the jurisdiction of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), so it meets very high standards. Then there are the tax agreements with over 70 jurisdictions. There are also direct and indirect tax benefits, as well as partial tax refunds for owners and there is no restriction on the nationality of shareholders and directors of Maltese airlines. Malta is also the Mediterranean maintenance hub.

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