A new
pilot boat with the name of Juliet I has been inaugurated. The 15-metre launch has
been built with a 900,000 euro investment. Juliet I is the eighth
launch for the Malta Maritime Pilots, a cooperative set up in 2003. The
cooperative today employs 65 persons, among them 16 pilots. The
Chief Pilot, Captain J. Mifsud, told TVM that
pilots nowadays manoeuvre vessels which are as long as four football pitches. (Source: tvm.com.mt, 30-Nov-2018)
Friday, November 30, 2018
Thursday, November 29, 2018
Air Malta awarded the CAPA Turnaround Airline of the Year
Air Malta has
scooped the 2018 'Turnaround Airline of the Year' at the prestigious CAPA World
Aviation Outlook summit held in Berlin. Air Malta was chosen amongst the
world's airlines for its 'innovative strategic changes and/or a restructuring
exercise'.
CAPA's Aviation
Awards for Excellence are regarded as the pre-eminent awards for strategic
excellence in aviation. This year's winners in various categories
include Qantas Group, WOW air, CityJet, LEVEL and Jozsef Varadi, Wizz Air's
Chief Executive.
Air Malta's
Chairman, Dr C. Mangion, was presented with the award during the CAPA Aviation
Awards ceremony. Air Malta was selected for its successful
transformation, from a heavy loss-making entity to a break-even result for the
fiscal year ended March 2018.
In the statement
announcing the winners CAPA said that Air Malta had been unprofitable for
nearly 20 years as it struggled to overcome multiple challenges, including
increasing competition from LCCs, outdated work practices and tensions in the
North Africa market, which impacted its traditionally strongest routes.
It added that the flag carrier had accumulated operating losses of more than
USD300 million over the 10 years ended Mar-2017. (Source: Air Malta,
28-Nov-2018)
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Turkish Airlines A333 bound to Lagos diverts to Malta IAP
A Turkish Airlines Airbus A330-300 (TC-JNM), performing flight TK-625 between Istanbul-Ataturk (Turkey) and Lagos-Murtala Mohammed (Nigeria), had to divert to Malta Int'l Airport this afternoon due to medical emergency on board. The flight continued to Lagos after nearly 90-mins at Malta IAP. (Source: flightradar24.com, 21-Nov-2018)
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Thursday, November 8, 2018
Year-to-date traffic through Malta IAP soars to nearly six million passenger movements
Malta
Int’l Airport continued to register exceptional results, with year-to-date
traffic through the terminal reaching 5,939,436 passenger movements. This figure indicates that the airport is on
track to reaching its forecast 6.8 million passenger movements by the end of
2018.
Last
summer was an important contributor to this year-to-date total. A 12.2% growth in passenger traffic for the
summer months – from April to October – was observed alongside a 13.4% increase
in aircraft movements and an increase of 13.7% in seat capacity. These improvements mainly resulted from a
significantly enhanced summer schedule with more than 100 destinations on
offer.
"Year-to-date
traffic results are quite remarkable considering that last year the six million
mark was only reached on the last day of 2017. While summer has now ended, over 12 routes
have been extended into the winter period and more frequencies have been added
on a number of routes. The months ahead
promise to keep us busy, auguring well for our pledge to constantly work
towards year-round tourism," said Malta IAP CEO, A. Borg.
The
top drivers of passenger traffic during the summer months were the U.K. (+14.9%),
Italy (+15.1%), Germany (-2.3%), France (+12.5%), and Spain (+44.5%). Spain's noteworthy spike in passenger
movements can be attributed to the launch of three new summer routes; Malaga,
Seville, and Bilbao, two of which have been extended into the winter period.
Last
summer's most popular destination with Maltese holidaymakers was Italy, with
Catania and Rome being the most sought-after cities. These two cities will be benefitting from four
additional weekly flights each throughout the winter period, which will
certainly serve to further cement their popularity with the Maltese public even
in the off-peak months.
October,
which marks the end of summer for the aviation industry, grew by 8.4% in terms
of traffic to reach 646,559 passenger movements. (Source: maltairport.com, 7-Nov-2018)
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Air Malta forced to delay flight after pilots and their replacements call in sick
Air
Malta flight KM560/1 from Malta to Moscow was yesterday evening delayed by 10
hours 30 minutes due to the fact that the planned operating crew for this
flight reported sick, the airline said in a statement.
The next
standby crew was called and the co-pilot reported sick after he was called in,
leaving the airline with no option but to delay the flight and wait for a
leased aircraft to be flown to Malta, Air Malta said.
Consequently,
and to minimise disruptions to its customers, the airline has today wet-leased
an Airbus A321 to operate KM100/1 from Malta to London in order to facilitate
the delayed flight to Moscow.
This
flight was delayed by 2-hrs 55-mins. A number of other flights were also
delayed today with delays ranging from 20-40 minutes. KM368/9
from Malta to Hamburg was delayed by one hour.
The
estimated cost of this disruption is over €85,000, Air Malta said, apologizing
for any inconvenience caused by circumstances beyond its control. (Source: independent.com.mt, 7-Nov-2018)
Ukraine Air Alliance AN12 bound to Mitiga diverts to Malta IAP
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Tuesday, November 6, 2018
Ryanair launches new Malta to Amman route
Ryanair today announced a
new route from Malta to Amman, Jordan, its 62nd route from Malta, with a twice weekly service
commencing in April 2019, as it extends its biggest ever Summer 2019 schedule. Ryanair will now operate 62 routes in total, which will deliver 3.1m customers
p.a. through Malta airport next year, as Ryanair grows it's Malta traffic by
15%. (Source: Ryanair, 6-Nov-2018)
Saturday, November 3, 2018
French BEA publishes the final report of the Metroliner that crashed in Malta on 24-Oct-2016
France's Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile (BEA) has published the final report about the "French
spy plane" that crashed shortly after take-off from Malta IAP on
24-Oct-2016. The modified twin turboprop Fairchild
Metroliner (N577MX), operated by CAE Aviation for the French authorities, took-off from
Malta IAP at 0719lt, spending only ten seconds in the air before
crashing just outside the airport's perimeter fence in Safi, killing all five
people on board.
According to the final report on an investigation by the
French BEA, the accident was caused by "a technical malfunction during rotation
or on lift-off, leading to a loss of control". The investigators say that the technical malfunction that is likely to
have downed the plane probably "originated in the specific modifications of the
aircraft and in the application of an inappropriate maintenance to these
modifications".
Investigators looked into five possible scenarios: possible high-risk behaviour on the part of the pilot; physical incapacitation
of one of the pilots; rupture to its High-Frequency (HF) antenna causing it to
become "wrapped around the elevator control surface"; a technical malfunction
of the SAS stall avoidance system; technical malfunction of a component of the
flight controls.
A number of recommendations were made to both the French authorities and
the aircraft's operators, regarding the way in which maintenance is carried out
on the modified aircraft.
As regards local authorities, the report notes that "during the
investigation, due to limited access in situ, it was not possible to determine
why the controller in the tower was not the first to trigger the alarm".
Consequently, the BEA recommended that the "Maltese authorities
responsible for the airport to investigate the reasons why the controller in
the control tower at the time of the accident was not the first person to
detect the accident" and introduce measures to improve the response time. (Source: maltatoday.com, 2-Nov-2018)
Friday, November 2, 2018
Air Malta launches 2018/19 winter schedule
Air
Malta is setting its sights on extending its record passenger growth numbers
into the Winter season with the start of its winter flight schedule this week.
On the back of
unprecedented passenger traffic during the summer months, the airline’s
strategy sees a new focus for the winter, with 27 scheduled destinations, an
increase of nine destinations over last year. The result is a 40% capacity increase covering a selection of 300 weekly departures.
Air Malta is committed to
growing inbound and outbound tourism especially during the shoulder and winter
periods. The airline aims to offer a diverse selection of main city and hub
airports and a high level of frequencies to and from Malta, giving passengers
optimum choice and optimum value for money as well as several options to
connect beyond to/from airports nor served with direct flights.
Several of the new routes
launched in the last 12 months have proven to be highly successful and will
subsequently be retained, including Lisbon, Cagliari, Malaga, Casablanca, and
Kiev.
The 5th Freedom flights between Catania and Vienna
and between Catania and London Southend will also be retained.
Meanwhile, the German
market, which has for many years been a mainstay to both the airline and the
country’s tourism success, will be given renewed focus.
The airline will be
placing a lot of new capacity and investing in the German market by adding
three new destinations; the capital Berlin, Hamburg and Leipzig. With double
daily flights to Munich, five weekly to Frankfurt and a twice weekly flights to
Dusseldorf, Air Malta is making sure to cover the German market with 50 weekly
departures to and from six airports.
This winter Air Malta will operate direct flights to Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels,
Cagliari, Catania, Casablanca, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig, Lisbon,
London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow, London-Southend, Kiev, Malaga, Milan, Moscow,
Munich, Palermo, Paris-Charles De Gaulle, Paris-Orly, Rome, Tel Aviv, Tunis,
Vienna and Zurich.
The airline will also operate flights between Catania –
Vienna, Catania – London-Southend and Cagliari – London*Southend.
The winter schedule started on 28th October and runs up to the
end March 2019. (Source: Air Malta, 1-Nov-2018)
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