Air Malta, one of the biggest national air carriers in the Mediterranean, reopens its regular service to Bulgaria. With the first flight on October 29, Air Malta, started to fly every Monday and Thursday from Malta via Istanbul to Sofia and back, company sources said, quoted by BTA. Air Malta commercial director for Bulgaria Ognyan Blagoev expects a sufficient number of passengers. The company relies mostly on tourists but it also offers convenient connections to the Bulgarians working in Libya and other North African countries. Balkan Airlines discontinued its flights to Malta in February 2001. `After a several months' severance of the direct link between Sofia and Malta, Malta Air did a detailed analysis and concluded that it could take up the niche freed by the Bulgarian national carrier,` Malta Air trade director Joe Kauki said. Malta Air planes land on nearly 50 airports in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and the Persian Gulf.