A master plan for the Malta International Airport and the area surrounding it aims to see the capacity of the Malta International Airport increase to match that of London’s Gatwick Airport, Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the Malta Air Traffic Service, Mizzi said that collaboration with Malta Industrial Parks was underway to formulate a master plan for the airport and the cluster of industries surrounding it. 

Mizzi referred to plans for MIA’s new terminal building and also plans for making space for seven new parking spaces for aircraft.  He said that the aim was for MIA’s capacity to reach that of London Gatwick.  The MIA runways were ideal for this but investment is required in the taxi-ways and the infrastructure, Mizzi said.

Mizzi was speaking after a visit to the Malta Air Traffic Service, who have begun using a new state of the art air traffic management system which has been implemented following an €8 million investment.

The Malta Air Traffic Service (MATS) was founded in 2002 as a government entity and employs 150 people with the aim of providing the most efficient service possible in air traffic management.  They also offer the aircraft the lowest rates in Europe.

Mizzi said that not many people know the extent of Malta’s airspace, adding that it stretched almost to Greece. 

He added that the investment in this state of the art system meant that Malta now had the most modern traffic management system in the whole of Europe, and that it also had an extremely high safety standard to go with it.

He also noted that a performance management programme had also been implemented by MATS, which had seen operations continue working even throughout the record-breaking storm that hit the islands last February.

 

Photos: Alenka Falzon