A pilot, who was banned from flying over Libya, has filed a judicial protest against the chairman of Transport Malta for failing to carry out an inquiry into the incident that led him to lose his job.

Sinclair Portelli explained that he had worked as a pilot with Medavia for several years. The Maltese-registered plane he operated transported workers and merchandise to various areas in Libya.

On March 9, 2009, he was flying a routing route over Mabruk when, suddenly, two Airbus planes came out of nowhere. The two planes, of the El Afriqija airline, ended up at an unsafe distance from the Medavia plane that Captain Portelli was flying.

When he landed in Libya he was questioned by security officials and eventually banned from flying over Libya.

However, Medavia investigations resulted that he had flown the usual route and it was the sudden take-off of the two Airbus planes that caused the potentially dangerous incident.

Captain Portelli kept receiving a salary from Medavia but, in February this year the company sent him a letter informing him that all attempts to solve the situation with Libya had failed and he was being dismissed as from March.

The reason for the termination of his employment was classified as a force majeure since “clear indications” suggested that Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi was on one of the Airbus planes.

He objected to the fact that the Libyan authorities had banned him from flying over the country for no reason and without carrying out an inquiry into the incident.

He then asked Transport Malta whether an inquiry had been carried out into the incident from their end since there was a Maltese-registered plane involved. However, he was not informed whether this inquiry took place and what the outcome was.

He held the authority liable in any damages he suffered for failing to carry out an inquiry and, if one was held, he requested that the conclusion be passed onto him within 10 days.

Lawyer David Gatt signed the protest.