An Australian shipyard has completed the building and fitting out of four new inshore patrol boats for the Armed Forces of Malta and will hand them over shortly.The 21-metre boats were built by Austal and have been conducting sea trials.They will replace two Swift-class boats and a Bremse-class patrol boat which are to be withdrawn from the Maltese fleet. The Swifts had been donated to Malta second-hand by the American government in 1971 while the former East German Bremse patrol boat was bought from Germany after German reunification. The new €9.3m Austal boats, partly financed by the E.U., were built to Maltese specifications and will be tasked with patroling the harbours and coastal waters. They will be equipped with machine guns, fire-fighting and rescue equipment. The new boats have a stern ramp for the launching and retrieval of a rigid hull inflatable boat, as is the case with the offshore boats in the AFM fleet, the American-built Protector class P-51 and P-52 and the bigger Italian modified Diciotti class P-61.The four boats will be shipped to Malta on a cargo ship.(www.timesofmalta.com)
Mediterranean Aviation Company Ltd has been issued a Type Rating Training Organisation approval by DCA Malta.
Approval number: M/TRTO/02Approved courses: Casa 212, Be.1900, DHC-8(www.dca.gov.mt)
Malta Int'l Airport had forecast a small increase in airport traffic in the last quarter of this year but expects winter passenger numbers to be at the 2009 levels "with perhaps some small improvements". It said the total number of passengers this year would be approximately 7% less than 2008. In a statement to the Malta Stock Exchange, the company said that during the second half of the year, passenger traffic improved significantly compared to the first half of the year, but it was more or less what it anticipated at the beginning of the year. For the period January to June 2009 passenger traffic was down by 10.9% over the same period last year.The situation improved significantly in the third quarter of the year when passenger movements were down by 4.7% over the same period last year.(www.timesofmalta.com)
A Puma Sprint Microlight, with local registration 9H-UMQ, has crash landed in a field off Triq Filippu Gutenberg in Qrendi this morning around 9 a.m.The two persons onboard the microlight were not injured during the incident, however one of the them had to be taken to Mater Dei hospital to be treated for shock.
Apparently, the microlight was flying at a height of about of 1,000 feet when it lost power, leaving no alternative to the pilot to make a emergency/crash landing in field in Qrendi.
Air Malta today reported traffic growth on its scheduled services of +4.4% in October over October 2008. "Considering that October 2008 was also a record traffic month, and 2009 has seen the worst economic recession since the Great Depression of 1929, these figures hint that the airline's strategy is bearing fruit and is managing to minimise the effects of the international financial crisis," the airline said."These figures confirm that Air Malta has the potential to increase tourism arrivals whilst competing with major European airlines," said Brock Friesen, Air Malta Chief Officer, Commercial."The growth in Air Malta passengers does not signal that we are out of the tourism recession or that Air Malta's revenue is also up. Indeed, average fares are lower as Air Malta has priced aggressively especially in France and Germany with a resulting October traffic growth of +15% and +14% respectively in these markets. UK figures were hurt by the declining value of the Sterling, however despite this Air Malta still managed to attract 2% more passengers from the UK in October ."Figures issued by the Association of European Airlines show European airlines reduced capacity by 4.3% this year while Air Malta added capacity by 5%."The decision to operate with an additional aircraft and thus increase capacity paid dividends," added Dr Friesen. "This increased number of seats available to the market reflects Air Malta's commitment to Malta. Unlike subsidized low cost carriers, which cut capacity during economic difficulty, the Maltese airline strategy was built on putting additional capacity into promising markets. This year infact we increased capacity on Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy as well as to Central and Eastern Europe. Apart from increased frequencies, this summer Air Malta also started new services to Paris Charles deGaule airport, Stuttgart and Verona."In Italy alone, Air Malta operated seven routes; Milan, Rome, Catania, Reggio Calabria, Bologna, Palermo and Verona. The Italian market maintained last year's figures despite the international financial situation and slowdown. Air Malta is currently finalising it plans so that next year it will be adding one or two additional northern Italian routes during next summer.(www.timesofmalta.com)
SR Technics, a leading global provider of Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) services today announced its plans to build a new maintenance facility at Malta Int'l Airport. SR Technics will commence operations at an existing hangar at the airport in 2010 until the new facility opens in early 2012.
The construction of the new maintenance facility follows agreements between SR Technics, Malta Enterprise Corporation and Malta Industrial Parks Limited. The agreements include the construction of a four-bay maintenance hangar and respective workshops, which will allow SR Technics to carry out base and heavy maintenance services on narrow-body aircraft. Construction will begin mid-2010, with completion due in early 2012. The agreements also include the option to further expand SR Technics’ maintenance operations thereafter.
With the new maintenance facility, SR Technics will offer a variety of maintenance services for existing and future customers enabling it to grow its maintenance activities in the medium to long term. Operations will initially focus on Airbus A320 Family aircraft and by 2012, capabilities will be extended to Boeing aircraft. The facility will support SR Technics’ strategic operations in Europe and complement its maintenance activities in Zurich.
Malta Enterprise and Malta Industrial Parks will support SR Technics with the local infrastructure setup. The partners will also cooperate in the areas of employee education and training, mainly through the Malta College of Art, Science and Technology, Malta’s Employment and Training Corporation in close collaboration with SR Technics’ own training organisation. SR Technics anticipates that the new facility will create up to 350 jobs in Malta by 2014.easyJet will become SR Technics’ first base load customer in Malta following the signing of an agreement between the two companies for an 11-year extension of their maintenance cooperation. As part of the agreement with easyJet, SR Technics will perform maintenance tasks for easyJet’s Airbus A319 aircraft in Malta from the third quarter of 2010. During the construction of the new hangar, SR Technics will utilise an existing two-bay hangar at Malta Int'l Airport.
(www.srtechnics.com)
In relation to the recent rumors hightlighted in the local media, Efly Co. Ltd. would like to clarify as follows:Our Company's initial objectives were to operate in the Charter and Wet Lease market.Following various contacts and consultation within the local market it was decided to launch the Malta-Catania route in order to contribute towards to increment of business for the Maltese Hotels and the general economy of the country.Unfortunately, the reaction towards our initiative by competitors, with tariffs which do not meet any criteria of commercial costs & profits and the logistical problems encountered at the Malta Int'l Airport with the hinderance/impossibility to enter with our service vehicles, delays in issueing entry permits to our technical staff - to mention a few, have led the company to reconsider its own presence in the scheduled flights market to and for Malta.The management of Efly Co. Ltd. (a private company), which is accountable to its shareholders unlike the competitors who seem not to be accountable for the losses, which at the end will be paid for by the taxpayers.For these reasons, Efly has decided to cease its scheduled flights operations and will continue to operate according to its original strategies - Wet leasing, Charter and ad hoc flights, which have contributed towards the birth of the Company itself.Should the adverse conditions mentioned earlied change, Efly will eventually review its position.The company would like to thank all those who have believed in our project with their trust and with gratitutde and appricication would like to thank all those who have travelled with us during our operations. Efly would also like to apologise to all those who have had their flights cancelled and wish to inform those who have booked on-line that the reimbursment of their funds are being processed whilst those who have booked through our offices in San Gwann have already been fully reimbursed.(www.efly.it)
During the month of October M.I.A. registered a 0.1% increase in passenger movements. The first ten months of 2009 resulted in an average decrease of 7.3% when compared to the corresponding period last year.The total passenger movements on scheduled and non-scheduled flights in October 2009 was of 280,364 an increase of 173 passengers when compared to October 2008. Both the Aircraft movements and cargo & mail figures registered an increase of 5.2% and 12.3% respectively.Passenger traffic for main markets U.K., Italy and Spain increased by 0.2%, 19.6% and 31.6% respectively, whilst decreases were registered from Germany with 7.1% and 1.6% from France.The busiest day in October 2009 was the 13th in terms of passengers with 11,680 movements and the highest number of aircraft totalling 96 on the 11th.(www.maltairport.com)
Malta DCA has published the latest update of the Maltese Civil Aircraft Register (dated 4th November 2009).No Additions/Deletions since last update of 18th September 2009http://www.dca.gov.mt/divisions/listdocuments.asp?id=23(click on Aircraft Register to download complete list)
Island Travel Trader Online has reported that Efly has suspended its Catania flights, just months after the service started.
Island Travel Trader Online said it was informed by the airline's secretary that the flight had been discontinued "for now" and that the last flight had been on Tuesday.Efly’s website, although still showing a timetable, no longer accepts online bookings nor does it explain the stoppage.A spokesman at the Department of Civil Aviation, meantime, quashed rumours that efly’s Air Operator Certificate – a mandatory licence – had been withdrawn. He told Island Travel Trader Online that the airline ceased operations for its "own reasons". (www.di-ve.com)
An Australian shipyard has completed the building and fitting out of four new inshore patrol boats for the Armed Forces of Malta and will hand them over shortly.
