Malta witnessed growth in business aviation movements in February following industry trends across the European Union, statistics gathered by Eurocontrol, the European organisation for the safety of air navigation, show.

Encouragingly, business aviation movements so far this year are even higher than movements in February 2008, just as the economic downturn began, Stanley Bugeja, who has just been elected to the board of governors of the Brussels-based European Business Aviation Association, told The Sunday Times.

Mr Bugeja, managing director of Malta-based DC Aviation, is the president of the six-month-old Malta Business Aviation Association. His new appointment is particularly significant and well-timed: Malta's business aviation industry is in the throes of a carefully planned evolution, with the establishment of an aircraft register for private aircraft and the recent publication of a new, wide-ranging bill.

The MBAA, established last October by DC Aviation Ltd, BizAv Services Ltd and FFF Legal, with Mr Bugeja, Adrian Spiteri, and aviation legislation expert Tonio Fenech, has set itself a brief to promote excellence among members to deliver best in class safety and operational efficiency, while promoting the sector's interests locally and on the continent.

In just six months, the MBAA - whose principles are based on the EBAA's - has attracted 11 member organisations to its fold.

He believes his post on the EBAA's board will put him in a position to recommend strategies which will attract even more businesses to Malta. Most business aviation companies in Malta are already EBAA members, but with the MBAA fully represented within the EBAA and at board level, these companies are ensured a voice in this body. Mr Bugeja's appointment also gives the Maltese industry the opportunity to keep abreast of developments in Europe, to learn from and emulate success and avoid pitfalls.

The EBAA is a founding member of the International Business Aviation Council, and is the only regional association recognised by the EU and European Aviation Safety Agency. Similarly, the IBAC is the only business aviation association recognised by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

Mr Bugeja, who was previously managing director of business aviation services firm Sierra Aviation Co Ltd and operations manager at Mediterranean Aviation Co. Ltd, explained that the MBAA is to strive to ensure recognition of business aviation as a vital component of the local infrastructure and Malta's economy.

"Among its top priorities, the MBAA will deal with the challenging issues of setting up a successful aircraft register in Malta and promoting the island as the ideal location to operate and own business aircraft," Mr Bugeja said.

"It will also deal with the challenging issues of the European Aviation Safety Agency rule-making process, as well as the Maltese Civil Aviation Act. Top of the MBAA list will be access to Malta International Airport, including fees and charges, security and better facilities."

Mr Bugeja said the association is "slowly putting Malta on the map" and has succeeded in obtaining considerable coverage for the local industry in international trade media. The December 2009 issue of European Business Air News carried a three-page feature on Malta, and other articles appeared in January's Fly Corporate Magazine and last month's Charter Broker Magazine.

Malta will feature again in upcoming issues of Business Airports Europe and Fly Corporate Magazine during Europe's largest Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Geneva.

Locally, the MBAA has been busy advocating good practices within the industry and has lobbied for more efficiency and streamlining of procedures with the authorities and other stakeholders.

In the run-up to the climate change summit in Copenhagen, the MBAA wrote to the Maltese delegation led by the prime minister, to present its proposal for cleaner emissions as recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organisation and the EBAA.

After the association took Enemalta to task over refuelling of business and general aviation aircraft, a procedure, "although not perfect", has been implemented to ensure business aircraft are refuelled with minimal delay.

The MBAA is also assisting the EBAA in its negotiations with the European Aviation Safety Agency over new crew flight time legislation and emissions trading, protecting the interests of the general business aviation community, including Maltese operators.

Mr Bugeja stressed that there is much work to be done before Malta's business aviation industry is comparable to the rest of Europe. Although the foundations are being laid, there are some vital fundamentals which must be put in order.

"Malta does not have a general aviation terminal, which means that some of the advantages of business aviation are lost if you board or land in Malta," Mr Bugeja explained. "For instance, a business jet traveller has to go through the same security as an airline passenger and, in peak summer times, has to queue behind airline passengers for a useless security check. There is no handling licence specific for business aviation. Malta allows only two general handling licences, which are taken by Air Malta and Service Air Globe Ground, who do an excellent job but are focused on scheduled airlines.

"Business aviation has different and specific needs. Malta is not used to this type of business - it is a challenge with the banks, similarly with resident and work permits for non-EU nationals."

Mr Bugeja pointed out that unlike scheduled airlines, it is now becoming norm for business jet operators not to have a fixed based - aircraft might be registered in the UK, Italy, Spain or Germany, and operated on a commercial licence from the same country, but is stationed where it is needed. If an aircraft is chartered to fly from Nuremburg to Pisa it stays in Pisa until the next charter.

Mr Bugeja has been a staunch advocate of Malta's considerable potential for business aviation growth for a few years, and aircraft started to be registered on the island before the register came into being.

"In the 1990s, the first business jet to be operated in Malta was Eurojet by a Maltese owned company, but we recently saw the arrival of Comlux with their corporate airbuses and Global Express. Bizav Services Ltd, a Maltese business aviation consultancy firm and co-founder of the MBAA, assisted two operators to obtain a Maltese licence: Orion (Malta) Ltd with a Hawker 800B (an eight-seater business jet) based in Moscow, and Carre Aviation with their Malta-based 14-seater CRJ 200 SE," he pointed out.

Malta offers operators many advantages over other jurisdictions across the EU; English is an official language, the Civil Aviation Department is professionally manned, and Mr Bugeja believes it is one of the most efficient in Europe. Fees are "manageable" and initial set-up costs in Malta are competitive, even though regulation demands operators establish a real office.

"If we get the infrastructure right, Malta could continue to attract more such operators, more traffic and eventually become a viable for having maintenance facilities for business aircraft which take less space than airliners," Mr Bugeja added.