Lufthansa flight to Malta diverts to Rome to offload sick passenger

Lufthansa’s flight to Malta from Frankfurt this afternoon was diverted to Rome where it made an emergency landing to offload a sick passenger, a spokesman for the airline said. The Airbus A320, which left Frankfurt at 1322, will continue on its way to Malta after refuelling. Originally due in Malta at 1545, the flight is now expected to arrive at 1925. (Source: timesofmalta.com, 27-Jun-2014)

Air Berlin A320 diverts to Malta IAP

An Air Berlin Airbus 320-200 (D-ABDQ), performing flight AB-8886 from Munich (Germany) to Catania-Fontanarossa (Italy), had to divert to Malta IAP this afternoon around 1455lt due to volcanic ash cloud on eastern Sicily. The aircraft continued with its flight to Catania-Fontanarossa after a tech-stop at Malta IAP. (14-Jun-2014)

Armed Forces of Malta takes delivery its first brand new helicopter, an AW-139

Today is a historic day for the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) as for the first time in its history, it received a brand new multipurpose helicopter, an Agusta Westland AW-139, designed specifically around the operational requirements of the service. Visibly happy, AFM personnel inspected their new aircraft once it landed at the Malta International Airport a few hours ago. For logistics officers involved in this EU co-financed project as well as for operational airmen, it was a very special day seeing a brand new helicopter gracing the apron of their base. (Source: AFM, 14-Jun-2014)

Turkish Cargo A332 freighter diverts to Malta IAP

A Turkish Cargo Airbus 330-200 freighter (TC-JDO), performing flight TK-6733 from Istanbul-Atatürk (Turkey) to Misratah (Libya), had to divert to Malta International Airport this morning around 0710lt due to low visibility at destination. The freighter continued with its flight to Misratah after 1.5-hrs on the ground (14-Jun-2014)

Hermes Aviation starts operations with a single B734

Hermes Aviation (FlyHermes.com) started operations with this single Boeing 737-4K5 registered as 9H-HER (msn 24901). The airliner was delivered on May 26, 2014. The first revenue flight was on  Jun. 6, 2014. (Source: worldairlinenews.com, 8-Jun-2014)

M.I.A. plc releases traffic results for May 2014

Malta IAP this year registered a significant increase in May traffic, welcoming a total of 402,289 passengers. This marks a 6.4% rise in passenger movements compared to last year. May’s figures were due to an added seat capacity of 4.9%. Seat Load factor increased by 1.1%, reaching an overall 76.5% for the month.

Traffic from the U.K. grew by 8.9%, as a result of the growth being experienced in London-Gatwick as well as regional airports in the U.K.. Traffic from France improved by 21.4% following the growth on Paris flights by Air Malta and the introduction of a new Transavia route from Nantes. 

Growth in travels towards and from Italy also rose significantly by 13.9%, retaining its place as an ever-popular European destination, while traffic to and from Germany achieved a similar result to 2013. A 9.1% increase in traffic towards the Netherlands resulted in this country featuring for the first time as our fifth top destination.

Malta International Airport also saw significant growth from emerging markets Turkey, Hungary and Lithuania.

Overall, aircraft movements for the month rose by 6.5%, which was reflected in an increase of 24,341 passengers, when compared to the corresponding period of last year. (Source: maltairport.com, 4-Jun-2014)