Gozo airstrip

Countries all over the globe (many of them Third World) with outlying islands have airstrips capable of handling small passenger-carrying fixed-wing aircraft.

Malta is not Third World so why is there no fixed-wing airstrip on Gozo? The heliport on Gozo would be easily extendable to take small fixed-wing aircraft; we are surely not talking megabucks or mega-months to make this possible. As to costs, I wouldn't be at all surprised if there is EU funding available for such a project.

Reading the business news it seems the UK company Synergy Aviation has made representations about a fixed-wing operation on Gozo. I assume Synergy Aviation would be using their BN2 piston engine Islander aircraft.

This is a step in the right direction providing the cost per passenger for this short trip is set at a sensible level. Round the islands, low-level sightseeing trips would be another way to help fund a viable inter-island operation.

Finally how about a Maltese company running such an operation? There are certainly pilots and engineers capable of operating and servicing such aircraft.