It’s been a while but it appears the Gozo airstrip bandwagon is back in the press this weekend. It’s amazing the list of woes that have befallen Gozo since it lost it’s ‘viable and valuable air link’, a list of woes which will of course all magically disappear once an airstrip has been built on the island. This bunch should call themselves the Gozo Destruction Group as that is basically what they are lobbying for, the total destruction of Gozo as a tourist destination.
The Gozo Airlink Group mentions day-trippers viewing Gozo from the top of a bus as if this was some sort of disease. Don’t they realise that the buses tend to stop as they pass through villages and the day-trippers get out, have a walk around and usually spend money in the process? At the same time does it not occur to them that day-trippers are not likely to be ready to pay for an air transfer to Gozo?
It would also be interesting to know in what way an airstrip on Gozo will halt the monolithic apartment blocks. Perhaps they are suggesting that high-rise apartments would be a danger to their low flying planes full of day-trippers. They say that surveys have been done which show that there is a demand for such an air link. Of course the surveys are going to show that there is a demand for several reasons not least of which is the fact that the survey results are biased towards achieving such a result. Did the young university students have access to costings and ask the respondents whether they would be ready to pay handsomely for the service on a regular basis? No! Nor did they mention the fact that several surveys have been done in the past, all of which showed that any such air link would not be financially sustainable.
Next we have the feasibility study by aeronautical experts declaring that the project would help Gozo’s commercial and tourism sectors. Wow, that sounds impressive doesn’t it. It would be nice if they had gone on to explain how this miracle is going to occur but of course they don’t. This does not tally with the recent interviews of foreigners in Gozo who all declared that they come to Gozo for the peace and quiet which means we can wave both peace, and these tourists goodbye once the noise of aircraft landing every hour can be heard all over Gozo. The Airlink Group also mentions the approach to the Maltese government from an international airfield construction group as if it were an opportunity the Government should have jumped at. Of course this group made an approach to build an airfield, that’s their business, that’s how they make a living. They don’t care about Gozo or the long-term effect their airfield construction may have.
This group appears to resent the fact that the MTA has called for a financial viability study to be carried out and see it as a waste of money. Do they really expect a Government to commit to such a project in the hope that enough people use it to make it financially sustainable, without having first studied the feasibility? That would appear to be what they are suggesting, just so long as they get another strip of concrete to land their toys on.
They then ask if it is going to take a change of Government for the scheme to be launched. What exactly do they mean by that? Have they been in talks with the Labour Party already regarding the building of an airstrip? Has the Labour Party stated that if it gains power it would sanction such a project? I think the people of Gozo deserve an answer in that regard from the Labour Party.
Their idea that the Government should simply ignore all the studies that have been done in the past, build an airstrip and then hope that some airline will run a service shows their total disregard for the taxpayer and the island of Gozo. The economy of Calypso’s Isle as they call it does not depend on an airstrip. It depends on the Maltese Government treating the island with the respect it deserves and implementing business incentives to draw job-creating service companies to Gozo. It depends on the Maltese Government attracting today’s tourists by finally implementing the eco-Gozo policy that it has been shouting about since the last election. The further scarring of the little island by an airstrip is totally against any eco-island policy in the same way as a marina at Hondoq would be.
James A. Tyrrell
N. Ireland