The Italian Coast Guard Diciotti-class offshore-patrol vessel Michele Fiorillo (CP 904) has sailed into Valletta Port (the Grand Harbour) this evening.
OPV Fiorillo is presently berthing alongside at Boiler wharf, and she's scheduled to sail from the Malta in the coming days after a short stay. (26-May-2015)
Transaero Airlines' first flight to Malta arrived from Moscow today and
passengers were welcomed by His Excellency Ambassador to Russia in Malta V. Malygin, MTA CEO P. Bugeja and Malta IAP CEO A. Borg. The aircraft (a Boeing B737-500, EI-DTX) was greeted with a water arch from the airport’s Fire and Rescue
team and tourists on board were handed flowers before joining in on the
cake-cutting ceremony. Based in Moscow, the Russian airline is one of the largest in the country,
operating an extensive domestic network as well as internationally across
Europe, Asia, North America and the Middle East. Transaero Airlines has the
largest fleet of long-haul wide-body aircraft in Russia. Transaero Airlines is scheduled to
fly weekly every Sunday this season from Moscow-Domodedovo. (Source: maltairport.com, 26-Apr-2015)
An Air Malta Airbus A319-100 aborted landing at Vienna IAP and
climbed steeply to avoid another aircraft on the runway earlier today. The flight, KM-514, was on final approach
when the incident happened. Passengers reported that they could see
another aircraft on the runway. The
pilot told them they had been ordered to abandon the landing. The plane
landed safely 10-mins later. Air Malta confirmed the incident, saying it
was not uncommon in busy airports and adding that passengers were never in any
danger. (Source: timesofmalta.com, 23-Apr-2015)
The Royal Moroccan Navy Sigma-class corvette Tarik Ben Ziyad (613) has sailed into Valletta Port this morning on a courtesy visit. The Moroccan corvette is presently berthing alongside at Pinto-3 wharf, and she's expected to sail from Malta on Thursday, April 23rd (20-Apr-2015)
Italian Coast Guard supply vessels Bruno Gregoretti (CP 920) has sailed into Valletta Port (the Grand Harbour) this morning with the corpses of 24 migrants who perished in one of the biggest ever tragedies in the
Mediterranean Sea. The corpses will be taken to Mater Dei Hospital morgue for autopsies and later
burial. Magisterial inquiries will be held in Italy and Malta. The Italian Coast Guard vessel berthed at Boiler Wharf, Senglea, where
Maltese and Italian officials were waiting. CP 920 is also carrying 28 survivors, all men, who will be taken to Italy. Gian Luigi Bove, captain of the Gregoretti said it was believed that the
migrants' boat capsized at about 7pm on Saturday. The Gregoretti arrived at
about 2am on Sunday. Other vessels arrived earlier. There was no sign of the
migrants' boat. He said that whenever his crew went on such missions they always hoped to
find everyone alive. In this case they directly rescued two people and then
found a number of bodies. The other survivors were then transferred from a
merchant ship. The survivors, all sub-saharan men, appeared relieved to be rescued, but
grief was all over their face, he said. (Source: timesofmalta.com, 20-Apr-2015)
The Spanish Navy auxliary transport ship ESPS El Camino Espanol (A 05) has sailed into Valletta (the Grand Harbour) this evening on a courtesy visit. The Spanish transport ship is currently berthing alongside at Hamilton wharf, in the French creek, and she's expected to sail from Malta on Wednesday, April 15th. (13-Apr-2015)
Two easyJet Airbus A319-100s en route to Malta IAP, U2-6497 from Newcastle (G-EZGF) and U2-2597 from Milan-Malpensa (G-EZIJ), had to divert to Palermo and Catania (both in Sicily) respectively this evening due to temporary closure of main runway 13/31 at Malta IAP due to debris on runway following the departure of an Aerotrans Cargo Boeing B747-400 freighter minutes earlier. (11-Apr-2015)
The Hellenic Air Force has confirmed its participation in the Malta International Airshow 2015. The aircraft participating will be a pair of Mirage 2000 interceptor jets from the 114th Combat Wing at Tanagra Air Base. Visitors will be able to get a close look at the Mirage 2000 aircraft as they will be on static display in the showground. Greece is another nation added to this year’s growing list of
participating countries and the team on this year’s Malta Int’l Airshow
warmly welcomes the return of the Hellenic Air Force to our airshow
after its debut in 2005. (Source: maltairshow.com, 10-Apr-2015)
In the first quarter this year, passenger movements registered an
increase of 5.6%, while aircraft movements grew by 1.4%. Passenger traffic in March grew by 4.5%, reaching a record of 275,334 passenger movements. This was brought about by a 1.6% increase in aircraft
movements which translated into an increase of 2.2% seat
capacity. The average seat load factor, which measures the percentage of filled seats on each flight reached 79.9%. The U.K. and Italian markets grew again last month by 9.6% and 9.8%, respectively. The German market shrunk by 7.4%, due to
reduced capacity on the Frankfurt route, and the French market grew by
2.7%. Traffic from Turkey also rose significantly with a 74.4% increase over 2014. The maximum take-off weight and cargo and mail decreased by 0.4% and 5.2% respectively. (Source: timesofmalta.com, 2-Apr-2015)
Malta IAP this morning welcomed Finnair with a water salute
and a cake-cutting ceremony. Finland’s largest airline began operating twice weekly flights to and from
Helsinki today. The airline chose Malta as part of its summer expansion across European
destinations and will be flying directly to and from Malta IPA with timetables designed for optimal connections with Finnair's network of Asian
destinations. (Source: timesofmalta.com, 2-Apr-2015)
Malta IAP today welcomed the first flight from Warsaw,
operated by Wizz Air. Wizz Air will fly on Wednesdays and Thursdays from Warsaw's Frederic Chopin airport, Poland. Passengers were welcomed by dancers in traditional Maltese costumes and were
given a flower, courtesy of the Malta Tourism Authority. A celebratory cake was
also prepared for the occasion. Wizz Air started operating flights to Malta in 2013 and they have continued
to grow, having carried over 32,000 passengers this winter alone – making it one
of the fastest growing airlines on Malta IAP’s schedule. (Source: timesofmalta.com, 1-Apr-2015)
Air Horizont is on
track to take delivery of its maiden aircraft, a B734, ahead
of its planned launch in May. Skyliner Aviation reports 9H-ZAZ (msn 25349) was
recently spotted at St. Athan airport in
the United Kingdom following its repaint into the start-up's colours. The jet is chartered from an unknown Maltese firm as Air Horizont has
yet to secure its own Air Operators Certificate (AOC). Once operational,
the Zaragoza-based carrier will serve Seville and Alicante in Spain as
well as Munich and
Rome Fiumicino in
Germany and Italy respectively. (SourceL ch-aviation, 31-Mar-2015)