As per 'the short runway' - I honestly didn't realise that Ryanair could not take a full load to Malta from Luton..ha ha ha....
Where did that information come from?
I don't have technical data to hand, but I have used the LTN-MLA service about 4-5 times since its launch, and seen with my own eyes the outbound flight has had 100% load capacity on one of those occassions and on other times 90-95%. This is one very popular and well served route.
This route is a cash cow for Ryanair... Many of the people on the route are Maltese people travelling back home, as there is no other LCC on the London to Malta route.
On one of those occassions we took off from runway 26, without back tracking down the runway and this would only give about 5500ft of runway! I really don't think the runway is an issue for a 737-800 on routes to MLA.
The RAK route for FR is a similar distance and there are no restrictions on this service. Also TOM use the 737-800 to TLV on occassions, which is two hours further and in the summer to the Greek Islands and Cyprus with 100% loads...