125 following aviation maintenance studies at Mcast's new centre

Ever since he was a child, Carl Zerafa always loved airplanes and now that he is learning how to fix them, he cannot wait to work on the real thing.

"I always enjoyed looking at planes. Whenever I go abroad, I even take photos of the planes," the 17-year-old aviation maintenance student said.

He was so enthusiastic that three years ago, when Lufthansa Technik announced it was investing in the maintenance sector in Malta, he started learning German.

"I wanted to make sure I'd have a good chance of landing a job working with planes," he said, as he grasped a silver piece of metal on which he was practising riveting.

Wide-eyed with enthusiasm, his 16-year-old friend Edward Montebello pointed out that the metal was a real part from a plane.

The two teenagers are among the 125 students, 60 of whom are full-timers, studying airplane maintenance at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology, which yesterday inaugurated its Aviation Maintenance Training Centre.

The course is being offered on the strength of an international training licence awarded to the college by the Department of Civil Aviation.

Mcast chief executive Maurice Grech explained that the college started working towards opening the centre when Lufthansa Technik announced its intention to invest in Malta and employ more than 500 technicians in its new hangars.

Mcast worked with Lufthansa to offer training to students, using Lufthansa's licence.

Meanwhile, the college applied for EU funds to build its own workshop and train its personnel to be able to offer such training.

After it obtained international accreditation, Prof. Grech said, Mcast applied for further EU funds to improve the training. Through these funds students will be supplied with a small plane to train on. Speaking at the official opening of the aviation maintenance training centre, Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt noted that the sector was thriving.

The government planned to market Malta as a hub where planes could be registered, just as it had done with ships. This would generate investment and jobs, he said.

Currently, the aviation maintenance sector employs over 510 full timers. Lufthansa Technik employs 450 of them but plans to raise the number to 550 by the end of the year.