The €17 million Aviation Park at Safi was officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi this afternoon.

He described the event as a milestone in the country's development and said it would contribute to more and better jobs.

The park, which is being built in three phases, is spread over 200,000 square metres. A number of companies are already operating from the site. These include SR Technics and Medavia.  Another company, Aviation Cosmetics, signed up this morning.

Dr Gonzi said aviation was one of the pillars of the government's economic programme with 1,000 people now employed in the sector. The government was committed to seeing further growth. 

Dr Gonzi praised outgoing Malta Enterprise chairman Alan Camilleri, who ends his term today, saying that a big part of the successes achieved were due to Mr Camilleri's leadership.

Mr Camilleri said that only 100 people were employed in the aviation industry in Malta 10 years ago.

He said that apart from investment in aircraft maintenance, Mata was also attracting interest in charter services and the Aviation Register.