Malta’s next step in the development of the aviation sector was the creation of one of the biggest aircraft registers in Europe, Transport Minister Austin Gatt said today.

Launching the Malta Aircraft Register Act this morning, Dr Gatt said that both sides of the House had voted in favour of this law in Parliament.

And the country had the opportunity not to just have a substantial register of international repute but also to have more companies specialised in aircraft maintenance, human resource training in the sector, aircraft management services and other niches which could be developed in future.

The expansion of such a register depended from intermediaries who faced clients, the Transport Malta directorate officials who gave administrative and technical service and the various entities involved in the registration and licensing process.

Attracting volume was a challenge, especially the quality of aircraft Malta wanted. But the foundations were solid and although there were countries which already had a reputation in the sector, Malta was already a base for reputable companies such as Lufthansa Teknick and it already licenced important operators in the business jets sector.

The country had some 5,000 ships on its maritime register, and these were registered over a number of years. There could never be so many aircraft on the aviation register because the sector was completely different.

But in spite of the international crisis, the sector was set to grow in the coming years with the US Federal Aviation Administration forecasting that the sector would grow by more than 50,000 business jets by 2030.

Dr Gatt said that success depended on the service offered to clients and he expected Transport Malta to organise itself effectively for an excellent service to be given.