Review: KM Malta Airlines business class between London and Malta

This is our review of KM Malta Airlines, the new Maltese flag carrier.

KM Malta Airlines launched on 31st March 2024, so it’s just over a year old. It benefits from the efficiencies of a new airline and features the youngest fleet in Europe with an average age of just 3.6 years. Some of these were delivered just seven months ago.

Just as we saw with Alitalia and ITA Airways, a new flag carrier was required when the old one became financially untenable.

KM Malta Airlines is one of the smallest European airlines with a fleet of just eight aircraft (Fun fact: I believe Air Montenegro is the smallest, with just three aircraft!)

This means it has a fairly small route network, although it does fly to both London Gatwick and Heathrow and many European capitals:

As regular readers may know, I’ve been reviewing different European business class cabins on short haul routes. Whilst the cabins are often identical – three by three with a blocked middle seat – the food and service can vary significantly. How does KM Malta Airlines compare?

KM Malta Airlines provided my flights in exchange for a review.

KM Malta Airlines business class check-in and ground experience

This review is a hybrid of both my outbound and inbound flights as I experienced both front row and mid row seats in the business class cabin. I had a ‘Business Plus’ ticket which entitled me to lounge access and fast track security – note that not all business class tickets do.

KM Malta Airlines operates from Heathrow’s Terminal 4, which is also used by Qatar Airways, Etihad, Gulf Air, Air France and KLM. Check-in and bag drop for the airline is in Zone E, right next to the entrance to security.

There is one counter for business class and two for economy, although the employee managing the queues pro-actively fast-tracked some business class customers to the economy counter when it got a bit busy.

KM Malta Airlines business class plus tickets come with fast track security at Heathrow. You also get lounge access in the Gulf Air Falcon Gold lounge which I reviewed here. This is a good lounge and better than the third party independent lounges such as Plaza Premium. In Malta, it uses the La Valette Club lounge which I reviewed here.

Onboard KM Malta Airlines’ A320neo

KM Malta Airlines operates a fleet of eight A320neos, with the aircraft less than four years old on average. The cabins look pretty typical for a European airline except that all the seats are upholstered in a dark red leather:

The airline has gone for one of Recaro’s slimline seats. They look thin but I found them surprisingly comfortable for the three-and-a-half hour flight and much better than you find on some European airlines.

As with other carriers, KM Malta Airlines operates an adjustable business class cabin that can expand or contract depending on demand. However, only the first six rows of the plane feature adjustable headrests whilst all seats up to the exit rows feature a bit more leg room.

The legroom was decent, even for me at 6’2″:

On my return flight I was able to snag seats in row 1, which are even more spacious:

All seats apart from the front row come with a flip down tray table and a tablet holder, which is convenient.

All seats, at least in business class, come with USB-A ports between the seats although this is currently disabled due to a technical issue, which was frustrating. And if, like me, you were hoping to do some work on board don’t bother, as none of the KM Malta Airlines fleet have wifi installed.

Food and service onboard KM Malta Airlines

The crew both ways were polite but not overly personable. Service started after take-off with the crew handing out large menus and offering a choice of drinks.

Prosecco, champagne and Maltese red and white wines were all available. The champagne on offer was Duval-Leroy.

After the first drinks service crew come round offering hot towels in preparation for the meal. There is no choice of starter, main or dessert: you get what you’re given unless you’ve pre-ordered a special meal. Both starter and mains are meat-based so if you’re veggie or vegan you really must!

The menu is inspired by Maltese cuisine. Our menu consisted of:

• Citrus marinated grilled quail breast starter
• Braised local pork loin main course
• Fresh fruit
• Double chocolate cake

It was all served on one tray which featured a funky mustard yellow napkin as well as a beautiful tile presentation plate inspired by Maltese architecture. Both of these are a welcome change from the usual basic white airline service:

The food was delicious, particularly the pork loin and risotto, and definitely one of the highlights of the flight.

After dining, the crew came round offering further drinks including tea and coffee. If you ask for tea they will bring a presentation box of bags which was a nice touch:

Both tea and coffee are served on the same tile presentation plates as the main course, again a smart touch although there was nowhere to put my used tea bag. The mugs are very classy and come with the Maltese Cross embossed:

You can, of course, order more drinks throughout the flight. After dining the crew came round with another hot towel.

And that’s it. After just over three hours, I was in Malta.

Conclusion

As one of Europe’s newest and smallest airlines, KM Malta Airlines is definitely on the right track.

The lack of wifi and in-seat power was frustrating for a business traveller like me – I was hoping I could get some work done on the flight but was restricted to what I could do offline. I appreciate a lot of people prefer being disconnected, however!

On the positive side, my flights were both comfortable and on time (and 40 minutes early on my return to Heathrow!) with some tasty food and good service. The Gulf Air lounge was also better than I was expecting.

Overall, for a small start-up airline, this was a pleasant experience and there are multiple daily departures to Malta from London to fit your schedule.

You can find out more, and book, on the KM Malta Airlines website here.

PS. You can find the review of my hotel, Malta Marriott Resort, St Julians, here.