Air Malta boosts plane tyres safety measures

Air Malta has taken several steps to prevent a recurrence of the burst-tyre incident that happened in Glasgow last year and to ensure more safety for its passengers, crew and aircraft, the airline said.

"These measures have been unilaterally adopted by Air Malta and are not part of any regulatory requirement. Some of the measures include the setting of a retread limit of three (down from the previous six) on all its Boeing 737 main wheel tyres and the immediate withdrawal from service and from stores of all tyres having a retread level above four.

"All withdrawn tyres have been sent to the manufacturer for inspections (shearography) and notwithstanding the fact that no abnormalities were found Air Malta has withdrawn these from service."

The airline was reacting to a recent report by the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch on the incident, which it said confirmed that the airline operates within the tyre manufacturer's specifications and aviation industry standards.

Last September, a burst tyre on Air Malta flight KM 197, which had just taken off for Malta, sparked a major airport alert and the plane had to circle over Glasgow for nearly three hours to burn off fuel before landing safely.

Air Malta said it operates to European Joint Aviation Authorities standards and is locally overseen by the Malta Department of Civil Aviation. "All engineering and flight operations practices must conform to state and international regulatory aviation standards, as was the case of the sixth retread being within the manufacture's specifications and accepted by the local authorities," it said.

Air Malta said it was is in the final stages of finalising the report on the Glasgow incident and a similar one that occurred with flight KM572 last August as it was flying to Moscow's Domododevo airport. Boeing, the tyre manufacturer, and a third party have been commissioned by Air Malta to undertake the investigations.

Air Malta said it wanted to reassure its customers that its procedures and policies are in line with industry standards and best practice. "This proves that Air Malta's levels of safety are of the highest standards and it also highlights the airline's flexibility to institute measures which go beyond industry benchmarks. The airline's safety record is impeccable and the airline continues to place safety at the top of the list of its operational objectives."