June 2007
Air Malta appoint new UK manager • InterContinental chefs win 10 medals at food and drink Festival • 500 mass transit employees undergo customer care training • New Catania airport office for KM • International appointments for local InterConti staffers

Air Malta appoint new UK manager

London, 14/06/07 - Leslie Muscat has been appointed Air Malta's manager in the United Kingdom, his remit also includes Ireland.

He takes over from Ray Borg, who will be taking up a post at the airline's head office locally.

InterContinental chefs win 10 medals at food and drink Festival

St Julian's, 08/06/07 - The InterContinental Malta entered 11 chefs in different competitions and won 10 medals for their respective events at the Mediterranean Food and Drink Festival held recently at Ta' Qali.

All the InterContinental Malta chefs competed for the first time in this event and went home with great honours.

Massimo Marino, chef de partie at Paranga and Ryan Seguna junior chef de partie at Carissa both won gold medals for their pasta dishes in the senior pasta dish event, whilst Jonathan Grima, chef de partie at Paranga won a gold for hygiene.

A silver medal was awarded to Mark Tabone, junior chef de partie at Soprano for his chicken dish as well as to Mario Farrugia, Jonathan Grima and Clint Spiteri for their participation in the junior team practical competition.

Jonathan Grima also won a bronze medal for his fish dish as did Mark Tabone for his pigeon dish, Dorothy Gatt for her works in pastillage and Yamna Elbouzaidi for her works in chocolate.  Another bronze medal was awarded to Jonathan Grima, Matthew Bonsfield and Jason Caruana for the junior team practical event.

Merits were awarded to Fiona Cordina for her Asian decorated cake display and to Samuel Zammit for his pasta dish in the senior pasta dish competition.

"I am very proud of my team, they excelled in their creations and represented the InterContinental Malta in a very positive way for the entire country," commented executive chef, Jonathan Lee.

500 mass transit employees undergo customer care training

Valletta, 08/06/07 - More than 137 front line employees from Malta International Airport and Air Malta have completed the service culture and Merhba training programmes organised by the Malta Tourism Authority.

The aim of these programmes is to enhance the customer service culture with Air Malta and MIA employees who are the first contact with tourists.

To mark the completion of the training programmes a certificate award ceremony was held at the airport presided by the MTA's CEO, David Mifsud, Air Malta's CEO, Joe Cappello and MIA's CEO, Peter Bolech.

In a separate ceremenony held at the Malta Transport Authority's offices in Pieta, 364 transport service providers were presented with certificates for having participated in the Merhba programme.

These included 137 taxi drivers, 96 bus drivers, 47 transport authority dispatchers, 48 coach drivers, 18 car hire operators and 18 karrozzini coachmen.

The service culture and Merhba programmes are two of the five main activities forming part of the Tourism and support services training programme' (TSSTP). The TSSTP is co-financing by the EU and the government and by the time it is complete - at the end of September 2007 - more than 800 people will have been trained.

The service culture programme is a multimedia train-the-trainer programme aimed "at the nurturing of a service culture to complement the tourism product".

The Merhba programme is aimed at improving customer care skills of transport operators and related support services.

New Catania airport office for KM

Luqa, 08/06/07 - Following the opening of the new airport in Catania, Sicily, Air Malta advise that its new office is located on the terminal's first floor. The office is open two hours before KMs flight departure times.

The office's full address is: Air Malta, 1sst Floor, Check-in Hall, Catania Airport, Catania, Sicily, Italy. The phone number 095 345 311 whilst the fax number is 095 281 037. The e-mail address is aeroportocatania@airmalta-sicilia.it.

International appointments for local InterConti staffers

St Julian's, 08/06/07 - Four staffers from the InterContinental Malta have been transferred and promoted to managerial and executive positions in various InterContinental properties in Europe and America during the last two years. "We are very proud that these team members have been given important and leading positions at some of our flagship properties. Through their determination, professionalism and training which they have received at the InterContinental Malta they are true ambassadors of Malta at InterContinental hotels worldwide," said Christophe Laure, general manager of the InterContinental Malta.

Andrew Ransley was recently appointed director of sales and marketing at the InterContinental Aphrodite Hills Resort in Cyprus. Ransley, 31, is the first Maltese to be promoted to an executive position at an overseas property within the InterContinental Hotels Group. Ransley joined the InterContinental Malta as sales manager in May 2002 and was promoted to assistant director of sales and marketing two years later, were he was responsible for the wholesale and corporate market segments.

Meanwhile, chef Ruben Ruggier is soon moving to New York where he has just been appointed executive sous chef at the InterContinental The Barclay. Ruggier, 33, joined the InterContinental Malta just over two years ago as a sous chef responsible for the a la carte restaurants in the hotel.   After graduating from the Institute of Tourism Studies he worked in Northampton for two years with an international chain and then in Malta with other five star hotels and leading restaurants.

Two other members from the InterContinental Malta's front office team have also been transferred. Tara Dunbar-Smyth has been promoted to guest relations manager at the InterContinental Park Lane London and Emily Borg was appointed guest relations manager at the InterContinental The Willard, Washington DC.