Why was Wizz Air Malta set up?

[johncrossley]

Wizz Air already had an EU subsidiary, so why did they need to set up Wizz Air Malta?

 

[gazthomas]

Employee terms and conditions I would imagine

 

[WestCoast]

I would recommend this article which grows through some factors on why Malta has become a flag of convenience for a growing number of largely EU based airlines. Essentially for the low cost carriers, they claim it’s largely about taxation for their employees based / working out of countries other than where the airplanes are registered.

Establishing a secure connection ...

 

[mpthomson]

Wizz Air already had an EU subsidiary, so why did they need to set up Wizz Air Malta?

Ryanair also has a Malta based operation so it'll be tax and/or employee T&C related.

 

[signed]

Malta has a very very favourable 5% effective corporate tax when the shareholders aren't Maltese fiscal residents. So I suspect this has something to do with it.

Sure, you got to declare it in your country, but if you reside in a country without dividends tax, you pay only 5% corporate tax.

 

[ctrh136]

It's not just Wizz and Ryanair (who have 2, Malta Air and Lauda Europe). There is also a Eurowings one and most of the wet-lease airlines have Maltese subsidiaries - tax reason given it has EU advantage but also low taxes