Economy Minister Silvio Schembri visited the Gulf Med Aviation Services on Tuesday and announced that the company will start to collaborate with MCAST for apprenticeship programmes.

During the visit, Schembri met with the CEO of Gulf Med Aviation Services, Emma Finlay-Broadbelt, where they went around the premises and where the process of operations was explained.

In a press conference, Schembri stated that it is the duty of the government to help all business in Malta during the pandemic. The reason for this is to constantly raise the skill level in the Maltese workers.

Gulf Med is part of a small niche in the aviation cluster which has a lot of potential and promise for growth. Malta is slowly becoming an aviation hub Schembri said, and with this in mind, the skill level in the aviation industry has to portray the level of professionalism needed.

During the coming year, Gulf Med Aviation Malta will start to collaborate with MCAST for apprenticeship programs were students will learn first-hand and at the highest level. Schembri also said that other investments are being done around the airport such as the widening of taxi ways in order to accommodate wide body aircrafts in order to increase the maintenance possibilities in Malta.

Finlay-Broadbelt meanwhile explained how Malta, although small in size, has a major geographical advantage for Gulf Med to operate its services from.

Gulf Med is a joint venture between Medi-link international and Gulf Helicopter Company in Qatar. It was formed in 2016 and has since provided services of air ambulance to other countries in the Mediterranean, different oil rigs in the North African region and others. More importantly Gulf Med provides the air ambulance service between Malta and Gozo.

Finlay-Broadbelt went on to explain that the Covid-19 pandemic hit the aviation industry very hard and it is thanks to various government incentives that they were able to continue their operation in Malta.