An Afriqiyah Airways A319 diverts to Malta Int'l Airport

An Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A319 has diverted to Malta Int'l Airport this morning due to a medical emergency onboard. The aircraft was operating a scheduled flight between Tripoli (TIP) and Brussels (BRU).

The A319, with registration 5A-ONI, has landed at M.I.A. at 0919LT and departed again after 2 hours, destination Brussels.

AFM's leased CASA 212 returns to lessor

The Air Wing of the Armed Forces of Malta has terminated operations with the dry-leased Casa 212.CC maritime patrol aircraft (AS0925) from CAE Aviation.

The Casa 212.CC was on lease with the Air Wing, AFM, through Luxembourg's government, since end Jul-09 for maritime patrol duties during the ongoing FRONTEX joint Operation ''Nautilus''.

The aircraft returned to the lessor in Luxembourg, this afternoon, departing from Malta Int'l Airport at around 1615LT.

Air Malta sees growth in August

Air Malta saw passenger traffic growth of 1.3% in August 2009, compared to the same month in the previous year, although the same could not be said for most airlines, according to data by the Association of European Airlines.

The AEA said August produced another negative figure - was a minus 1.8% in passenger-km and -3.5% in passenger boardings. Numbers have been decreasing since November 2008.

European cross-border traffic (RPK) was 4.0% down, the North Atlantic -2.8% and the Far East -2.4%. The only growth was on operations to Africa and the Middle East.

The preliminary outlook for September, based on weekly returns, is for a figure worse than in August, at about -3%.

Air Malta passenger numbers between January and August are down 4.4%.

(www.timesofmalta.com)

Austal launches patrol vessels for Malta

Austal, Western Australia, has launched the first two 21.2-metre aluminium patrol vessels for the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) less than seven months from initial contract signing.

Launch of the remaining two aluminium vessels in the order will occur in coming weeks, with the four-vessel fleet on schedule for delivery in November.

The vessels are designed to assist the AFM with surveillance and border protection throughout Malta’s coastal waters. As such, each vessel will be equipped with several machine guns and able to reach speeds of more than 26 knots.

To reach these speeds, the vessels are powered by twin MAN D2842 LE410 engines rated 809kW at 2,100rpm.

The patrol boats are 21.2 metres long, on a beam of 5.5 metres and a depth of 2.8 metres. The maximum design draught is 1.83 metres at a deadweight of six tonnes.

Classified by DNV, the vessels also contain a fire monitor on the aft flybridge deck, while a radio direction finder capable of tracking emergency frequencies allows the vessels to perform search and rescue operations.

Austal Business Development Manager for Defence, Jamie Robinson, said the vessel platform was capable of performing a number of different roles.

“One of the standout characteristics of these vessels is their versatility, particularly considering the size,” Mr Robinson said.

Adding to their versatility is a bilge manifold located above the main aft deck, which can perform salvage pumping of another vessel if needed. A stern launching ramp allows the safe deployment and retrieval of a rigid hull inflatable boat and dive operations are also supported via low-to-the-water platforms located aft.

Sea trials of the first two vessels will take place over coming weeks.

(www.bairdmaritime.com)

M.I.A. releases traffic results for September 2009

During the month of September M.I.A. registered a 4.2% decline in passenger movements. This results in an average decrease of 8.2% for the first nine months of 2009 when compared to the corresponding period last year.

The total passenger movements on scheduled and non-scheduled flights in September 2009 was of 323,851 a decline of 14,214 passengers when compared to September 2008. Aircraft movements increased by 1.1% and cargo & mail increased by 6.9%.

Passenger traffic for main markets, U.K. and Germany, decreased by 0.7%, and 9.5% respectively, whilst the Italian market registered an increase of 8.1% when compared to September 2008.

The busiest day in September 2009 was the 1st with 14,641 passenger movements and 111 aircraft movements.

(www.maltairport.com)

AFM award contract for maritime patrol aircraft

A historic aviation milestone today for the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM): the signing of the contract for the provision of a new maritime patrol aircraft, funded from the 2009 External Borders Fund (EBF).

This is the third contract signing utilising funding from the E.U.'s EBF framework. The project is co-financed with 75% of the funds being sourced from the EBF and remaining 25% being allocated from the Maltese Government. The global sum allocated to this project was that of €9.696 million.

The new AFM-operated aircraft will perform a major role in the protection of the Southern external borders of the E.U., through missions which include detection, identification and coordination operations. The Maltese islands are at a critical location in the Mediterranean Sea to perform this role. In a secondary role, the aircraft will perform Search and Rescue (SAR) service in the Mediterranean Sea.

A total of six international companies responded to the call for a competitive E.U. tender, all submitting their bids within the allocated timeframe. All bidders were European companies. Of the six bidders only two were found to be technical compliant to AFM requirements. One of the two, Aerodata AG, was selected to supply the AFM with a complete integrated system, training and the provision of a service and support package.

Aerodata has teemed up with Hawker Beechcraft Corporation as the provider of the fixed wing aircraft. Aerodata, as the prime contractor for this program, will handle the complete process chain to provide a fully equipped new KingAir B200 aircraft (plus one optional).

The specialised mission system equipment, sourced from Europe and America, integrates a Telephonics RDR 1700B 360° belly mounted search radar, a Wescam MX 15i Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) system, SAR direction finder plus a number of other sensors and communication equipment. The mission system handles all sensors and selects data to be provided through a high speed INMARSAT data link with a bandwidth of 128 kBit/s to the coordination center on the ground.

The development of the solution and the integration of these systems as offered by Aerodata clearly reflects their strength as experts in the aviation industry. Undoubtedly, through the new asset, the AFM will be at the forefront when participating in joint border control operations, and substantially enhance its contribution to the E.U. agency FRONTEX's activities.

As prime contractor, Aerodata will also design all modifications to the KingAir B200 aircraft to achieve an EASA STC. Furthermore, Aerodata will modify the aircraft at its facility at Braunschweig airport. As a supplement to the electronic equipment on the aircraft, bubble windows and a drop hatch will be fitted to achieve high performance for the SAR mission.

Recently, Aerodata has been approved as Service Center for all KingAir models by Hawker Beechcraft. Thus, Aerodata as a prime contractor is able to provide all aircraft and mission system warranty and maintenance work. In addition, Aerodata will provide training for pilots, aircraft mechanics and mission systems operators.

(AFM Press Release)

Bad weather disrupts Air Malta flights

The bad weather that hit Malta and Sicily in the early hours of Friday morning disrupted the operation of several Air Malta flights. At least five flights were affected and had to be diverted to alternate airports.

Flight KM 7471 from Toulouse to Malta, flight KM 421 from Brussels to Malta and flight KM 1307 from Munich to Catania to Malta were diverted to Tripoli. KM 147 from Manchester to Malta was diverted to Rome Fiumicino while the airline’s flight KM615 from Rome Fiumicino to Reggio Calabria was diverted to Malta.

As result of these disruptions, passengers booked on flight KM 1307 from Catania to Malta were stranded at the Catania airport. At that time, due to the severe bad weather that hit the region and the number of re-routings, the airline was not in a position to immediately inform its passengers when it could operate this flight.

Although these disruptions arose due to circumstances beyond the airline’s control, Air Malta offered these passengers hotel accommodation. Nonetheless, the airline understands that at that time transportation in Catania and the nearby areas was severely hit and the airline’s passengers suffered delays in making their way to the hotel. On Friday morning Air Malta rerouted and operated combined flights in order to transport the affected passengers with the situation back under control.

Air Malta gives utmost importance to the safety and well-being of its clients and crew and reassures its customers that in the circumstance all possible was done to minimise the inconvenience. Air Malta once again apologises to its clients for these delays caused by circumstance beyond its control.

(www.maltamedia.com)