Harbourair Seaplanes, which has just officially launched the seaplane link between Grand Harbour and Mgarr Harbour together with a schedule of scenic tours round the Maltese Islands, is also planning to offer flights to nearby Sicily in the future.

But due to bureaucratic delays on the Sicilian part, this service may not be available before next year, a company spokesman said

Departing from the Valletta Waterfront, Harbourair operates a DeHavilland DHC-3 Single Otter seaplane and has a schedule of five daily flights to and from Gozo together with a number of scenic tours. The first flight departs from Valletta at 7.50am and the last flight leaves Mgarr, Gozo at 6.30pm.

The duration of the flight between the two islands, which carries up to 14 passengers, averages 15 minutes and costs Lm12 for a one-way ticket.

Scenic tours, aimed at attracting the tourist market especially the cruise liner passengers, cost Lm27. Corporate companies are also making use of the scenic tour for clients and staff.

As tested by the media last week, the flight is reasonably comfortable, and more important, quick. A tailwind got us to Malta in just seven minutes.

The aircraft is piloted by two Canadian pilots with long experience in the icy wastes of Victoria and Vancouver. Flying a seaplane in Malta, they said, was a holiday compared to the conditions they sometimes flew in.

Winston Azzopardi, the local partner of the Canadian company that runs Harbourair Seaplanes, said there has been a great demand for this service and several of the summer flights are already fully booked.

He said, “The service in itself as well as the concept of taking off and landing on water has created great interest. In fact the interest shown to-date by the public in general and by tour operators is very encouraging and if everything goes according to plan, by next year we hope to expand our services to include Sicily.”

Mr Azzopardi added that this service has already proved to be very popular with the cruise-passenger market as well as business travellers who can cross between both islands in a matter of minutes, saving precious time.

In fact, both take-off and landing in Grand Harbour have extreme scenic value to passengers on board the plane and very interesting for passengers on board cruise liners.

The Harbourair seaplane service will be the first air-link with Gozo following the closure of the helicopter service.