It operated services as the country's flag carrier to destinations in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Between 2002 and 2007, Air Malta embarked upon a fleet replacement programme, opting to change all aircraft to Airbus A319s and A320s.

In January and February 2009 Air Malta wet-leased an A320 to Sky Airline of Chile.

In June 2017, the newly appointed Minister for Tourism announced the restructuring of Air Malta.

[6] Air Malta then opened a number of new routes, including Tunis, Malaga (reduced to seasonal in 2019), Comiso (terminated after summer 2018), Kyiv, Lisbon, Casablanca, Southend (terminated in 2019) and Cagliari (subsequently reduced to June–September only).

[9] In August 2022, the Maltese government announced it would dissolve Air Malta should the European Union deny further financial state aid to the airline.

[10] Shortly after, the decision regarding the airline's future had been delayed to the end of 2022; however, the route network and frequencies saw extensive cuts by October 2022, including the termination of several destinations.

[11] On 18 April 2023, Chairman David Curmi announced that the European Commission declined to give permission to the Maltese government to inject 290 million euros of state aid into the airline.

Also, a competitive process was to be launched for the new airline to acquire the tender for the Air Malta branding which is owned by a government owned company, IP Holdings, which was set up by former minister Konrad Mizzi to transfer assets to show that the company earned a profit in 2018.

[3] The head office of the company was at the Skyparks Business Centre, located on the property of Malta International Airport in Luqa.