Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi laid out his ambition for Malta International Airport to equal the capacity of London Gatwick, as he announced an €8 million air traffic control upgrade.
Dr Mizzi said on Tuesday that Malta Industrial Parks, a government entity, was in the process of drawing up a new master plan for the airport and the surrounding industry cluster, which he said would contribute to significantly improving capacity.
While the airport’s runways were sufficient, he said, further investment was required in taxiways and other infrastructure.
At Malta Air Traffic Services Ltd, we just announced an investment of €8M in a new Air Traffic Management System. This investment in infrastructure related to #aviation is essential for #Malta in order to be able to become an aviation hub in the Mediterranean.
— Konrad Mizzi (@KonradMizzi) April 9, 2019
The minister noted that planning permission was already in hand for an overhaul of the car park area, while further plans were in place to upgrade the terminal building and add parking facilities for seven more aircraft, upping the airport’s hourly capacity.
Speaking after a visit to Malta Air Traffic Services, a government entity which handles all traffic management in the country’s air space, Dr Mizzi said the €8 million investment had updated and improved the technical systems available to controllers.
Upgrading of the runway management systems had already yielded fruit, he added, allowing the runway to continue functioning during the historic storm last February.