It was 45 years ago to the day that the first Air Malta flight landed in Luqa from London’s Heathrow airport, with the anniversary celebrated in the British capital on Monday morning.

Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi and Air Malta chairman Charles Mangion attended a cake cutting ceremony to mark 45 years of Malta’s eight-pointed cross crisscrossing the skies of Europe.

“I can still remember the first Air Malta flight, back in 1974, which took off from here, Heathrow Airport, and landed in Malta. It was the start of a story that continues today,” Dr Mangion said.

Since its first flight, ‘the airline of the Maltese islands’, as it is known, has carried some 56 million passengers on its aircraft, and today flies to around 50 major cities.

The journey over the years, Dr Mangion said, may have hit some turbulence, perhaps been made tougher through the headwinds of tricky financial navigation, but today was looking ahead at clearer skies.

The journey may have hit some turbulence, perhaps made tougher through the headwinds of tricky financial navigation, but today was looking at clearer skies.

Dr Mangion said the company, which he professed to “have a love for”, was not resting on the laurels of its 45 years of experience.

Instead, it was planning out the flight plan for the 45 years to come.

Photo: Ivan Martin

Picking up where Dr Mangion left off, Minister Mizzi said his vision for the airline was one where the livery would finally be seen at other major airports such as New York’s JFK or Mumbai airport in India.

The airline was part of the island’s critical infrastructure - not only facilitating travel but acting as a vital bridge to the rest of the continent.

Weighing in briefly on Air Malta and the country’s “special relationship” with the UK, Dr Mizzi said that irrespective of the outcome of Brexit, Malta was committed to be the most UK-friendly country in Europe.