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Malta International Airport

Coordinates:35°51′27″N014°28′39″E/ 35.85750°N 14.47750°E/35.85750; 14.47750
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"Malta Airport" redirects here. For the airport in the United States, seeMalta Airport (Montana).
Malta International Airport

L-Ajruport Internazzjonali ta' Malta
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerMalta International Airport plc
ServesValletta
LocationLuqa,Malta
Hubfor
Operating base forRyanair(Malta Air)
ElevationAMSL300 ft / 91 m
Coordinates35°51′27″N014°28′39″E/ 35.85750°N 14.47750°E/35.85750; 14.47750
Websitewww.maltairport
Map
MLA/LMML is located in Malta
MLA/LMML
MLA/LMML
Location on a map of Malta
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
05/23 2,377 7,799 Asphalt/concrete
13/31 3,544 11,627 Asphalt/concrete
Statistics (2023[1])
Passengers7,800,000
Passenger change 22-23Increase33.4%
Aircraft movements51,353
Movements change 21-22Increase60%
Cargo (kilos)20,645,000
Cargo change 22-23Increase17.6%
  • RWY source: ARINC eff. 2020-01-30[2]

Malta International Airport(IATA:MLA,ICAO:LMML) is the onlyairportinMalta,and it serves the whole of the Maltese Islands. It is located on theisland of Malta,southwest of the Maltese capital,Valletta,in the town ofLuqa,and occupies the location of the formerRAF Luqa.The airport serves as the mainhubforKM Malta AirlinesandMedaviabesides being an operating base forRyanairand its subsidiaryMalta Air.It is also home to theArea Control Centerand hosts the annualMalta Airshow.The airport is operated by Malta International Airportplc.

In the past, it was the hub ofAir Malta,now replaced byKM Malta Airlinessince March 2024.

History

[edit]

Early years

[edit]

The first civil airfield was constructed atTa' Qali,followed by others atĦal Far(RAF Hal Far) and Luqa.[when?]During theSecond World War,the airfields at Ta' Qali and Ħal Far were severely battered and civil operations subsequently centred on Luqa Airport.[3]

The increase in passenger handling and aircraft movements necessitated the construction of a civil air terminal. Preparations started in 1956, and theBritish Governmentmainly financed what was then a£300,000 project.[citation needed]Malta's new passenger air terminal at Luqa was inaugurated on 31 March 1958 by thenGovernor of MaltaSirRobert Laycock.The air terminal consisted of two floors including some basic facilities such as a restaurant, a post office, a cable and wireless office and a viewing balcony for the public.[citation needed]

In October 1977, a new and longer runway was launched and works commenced on the extension and refurbishment of the air terminal.[3]An arrivals lounge and another lounge dedicated to VIPs were added and the original part of the terminal building was used for departures.

This refurbishment was not enough as it still lacked certain essential facilities. Immediately after a change in government in 1987, the new administration decided that the 35-year-old terminal was past its time (Luqa Terminal) and therefore gave the green light for the construction of a new air terminal along Park 9 (now located in Gudja).[citation needed][4]

Until the construction of the new air terminal was completed, theGovernmentembarked on a further upgrade of the old air terminal.[when?]The facilities introduced included air conditioning, newbaggage carousels,flight information monitors, computerisedcheck-in desks,a new floor surface and new retail outlets including a largerduty-free area.

Development since the 1990s

[edit]

The foundation stone of the present air terminal in Gudja was laid in September 1989 and it was inaugurated in record time 29 months later, in February 1992. Malta International Airport became fully operational on 25 March 1992, and the old Luqa passenger terminal was effectively closed down after 35 years.[5]In November 1995,Balkan Bulgarian Airlinesintroduced a flight from Sofia to New York City that stopped in Malta. The service on Boeing 767s resulted from a partnership between Balkan andAir Malta.[6][7][8]

Its passenger numbers have increased from 3.5 million in 2011 to 6 million in 2017.[9]The increase in passenger numbers is mainly due to the increased number of routes served by low-cost carriers.Ryanairbased one aircraft in Malta from May 2010, increasing to two in May 2012, three in March 2016, four in March 2017, five in March 2018 and further to six in April 2019.[10]The largest aircraft visiting Malta International Airport regularly is the dailyEmiratesBoeing 777-300.The airport has received occasional visits by theAirbus A380,usually for repainting at one of the local maintenance facilities.[11]

Facilities

[edit]
Arrivals area
Apron view of the main building

Overview

[edit]

The airport has a single passenger terminal which became fully operational on 25 March 1992. This replaced the oldLuqaterminal which is by 2020 mostly used for cargo. Malta International Airportair terminaloperations include general passenger services, and the operation of an extensive range of retail services at the airport, airside and landside shops, restaurants, and other outlets, which are all operated on concession agreements. The airport offers one VIP lounge, the La Valette Club.[12]The airport also hosts several maintenance facilities including those operated byLufthansa Technikand SR Technics.[citation needed]

Other facilities

[edit]

The head office ofMedaviais on the airport property.[13]

Located within the grounds of Malta International Airport, the Business Centre is the first building in Malta to have applied forBREEAM(BRE Environmental Assessment Method) to become the island's first Grade A office park. The head office ofAir Maltais at Level 2 of the Skyparks Business Centre.[14]

The Malta Airport MetOffice[15]is part of the Malta International Airport and provides the function of a national meteorological service for Malta. Although they primarily serve aviation they also service the public sector.[16]All equipment, other than theDoppler Weather Radar,is enhanced byautomatic weather stations,of which eight are situated in Malta andGozo.At the same time anaerodrome weather observation systemis located at the airport. The MetOffice is able to get information from theAgencia Estatal de MeteorologíainMadridand theUK'sMet Officealong withnumerical weather modelssuch as those provided by theEuropean Centre for Medium-Range Weather ForecastsinReading,England.[17]

Military usage

[edit]

TheAir Wing of the Armed Forces of Maltais based at Malta International Airport. The Air Wing terminal consists of six hangars. The Air Wing operates a total of four fixed-wing aircraft, six helicopters[18]and aUAV.[19]

Airlines and destinations

[edit]

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Malta:[20]

AirlinesDestinations
Aegean Airlines[21]Athens
Aer LingusSeasonal:Dublin(begins 25 October 2024)[22]
Air France[citation needed]Seasonal:Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Air Serbia[23]Belgrade[23]
airBaltic[24]Seasonal:Riga,Tallinn[25]
British Airways[26]London–Gatwick
easyJet[27]London–Gatwick,Manchester
Seasonal:Amsterdam,[28]Basel/Mulhouse,[29]Bristol,Geneva,Liverpool(begins 10 December 2024),[30]London–Luton(begins 4 December 2024),[31]London–Southend(begins 30 March 2025),[32]Milan–Malpensa,Naples,Nice[33]
Emirates[34]Dubai–International,Larnaca
EurowingsDüsseldorf[35]
Seasonal:Hamburg[35]
Israir Airlines[36]Seasonal:Tel Aviv
ITA Airways[37]Rome–Fiumicino
Seasonal:Milan–Linate
Jet2[38]Manchester
Seasonal:Belfast–International,[39]Birmingham,Bristol,East Midlands,Edinburgh,[40]Glasgow,Leeds/Bradford,Liverpool(begins 1 May 2025),[41]London–Stansted,Newcastle upon Tyne
KM Malta Airlines[42][43]Amsterdam,Berlin,Brussels,Catania,Düsseldorf,London–Gatwick,London–Heathrow,Lyon,Madrid,Milan–Linate,Munich,Paris–Charles de Gaulle,Paris–Orly,Prague,[44]Rome–Fiumicino,Vienna,Zürich
Lufthansa[citation needed]Frankfurt,Munich
Luxair[45]Luxembourg[46]
MedSky Airways[47]Misrata,Tripoli–Mitiga
Norwegian Air Shuttle[48]Seasonal:Copenhagen,Oslo
Ryanair[49][50]Athens,Barcelona,Bari,Belfast–International,[51]Bergamo,Billund,Birmingham,Bologna,[52]Bordeaux,Bournemouth,Bratislava,Bucharest–Otopeni,Budapest,Cagliari,Catania,Charleroi,Cologne/Bonn,Dublin,Edinburgh,[53]Gdańsk,Katowice,[54]Kraków,Lisbon,Liverpool,[55]London–Luton,London–Stansted,Lourdes,Madrid,Manchester,Marseille,Memmingen,[56]Milan–Malpensa,[57]Nantes,Naples,Niš,Pisa,Porto,Poznan,Riga,Rome–Fiumicino,[58]Sofia,Stockholm–Arlanda,[59]Tel Aviv,[60]Thessaloniki,Toulouse,Trapani,Treviso,[61]Trieste,Turin,Vienna,Vilnius,Warsaw–Modlin,Wrocław,Zagreb
Seasonal:Beauvais,Chania,East Midlands,Eindhoven,Lamezia Terme,Luxembourg,[62]Norwich,[63]Paphos,Parma,Perugia,[62]Pescara,Seville,Shannon,[62]Valencia
Scandinavian AirlinesSeasonal:Copenhagen(begins 31 March 2025)[64]
Swiss International Air Lines[65]Seasonal:Zürich
Transavia[66]Seasonal:Nantes,Paris–Orly
Tunisair Express[67]Tunis
Turkish Airlines[68]Istanbul
Universal AirPalermo,[69]Pécs[70]
Seasonal:Corfu,[69]Ibiza,[69]Prague[71]
Vueling[72]Barcelona
Seasonal:Bilbao
Wizz Air[73]Belgrade,Bucharest–Otopeni,Budapest,Katowice,Skopje,Warsaw–Chopin

Statistics

[edit]
Luqa airfield in 1941
Airspeed Ambassador G-ALZW ofBritish European Airways,at Luqa airport in October 1956
EgyptAirBoeing 707at Malta International Airport in 1985
BelgianC-130HandRoyal NavyMerlin HM.2at the 2015Malta International Airshow.The airport has hosted the event since the 1990s.
Annual passenger traffic at MLA airport. SeeWikidata query.

Busiest routes (by country)

[edit]
Busiest international routes out of Malta International Airport by country (2022)[1]
Rank Country Passenger Movements % Change (vs 2021)
1 Italy 1,321,371 Increase169.65
2 United Kingdom 1,059,286 Increase120.24
3 France 567,855 Increase137.05
4 Germany 557,736 Increase80.51
5 Poland 278,595 Increase115.74
6 Spain 215,000 Increase125.20
7 Turkey 149,466 Increase87.25
8 Belgium 149,415 Increase79.24
9 Switzerland 139,733 Increase107.08
10 Austria 133,400 Increase95.50

Busiest airlines

[edit]
Top 10 passenger airlines out of Malta International Airport (2016)[9]
Rank Airline Passengers % Change (vs 2015)
1 Ryanair 1,731,881 Increase41.30
2 Air Malta 1,600,408 Decrease7.47
3 EasyJet 279,266 Decrease15.75
4 Lufthansa 230,965 Increase7.21
5 Wizz Air 177,420 Increase17.33
6 Turkish Airlines 132,521 Increase11.98
7 Alitalia 111,504 Increase24.91
8 Emirates 88,329 Decrease3.45
9 British Airways 80,024 Decrease0.97
10 Vueling 73,131 Decrease8.28

Ground transportation

[edit]

Bus

[edit]

Malta International Airport is served also by several buses operated by private transportation groups and public transport operated by Malta Public Transport. Malta Public Transportbuses serve the airport. A mixture of Express and local services are available.[74]

Car

[edit]

The airport is located 5 km (3.1 mi) southwest of the capital, Valletta.

Accidents and incidents

[edit]
  • On 5 January 1960,Vickers ViscountG-AMNY ofBritish European Airwayswas damaged beyond economic repair at Luqa when it departed the runway after landing following a loss of hydraulic pressure.[75]
  • On 25 November 1973, Luqa Airport witnessed the landing ofKLM Flight 861.The aircraft, named "Mississippi", was aBoeing 747hijacked by three young Arabs overIraqiairspace on a scheduledAmsterdam-Tokyoflight with 247 passengers on board, after the hijackers threatened to blow up the plane when no country would grant landing permission. Most of the passengers and the eight stewardesses were released after negotiations with the MaltesePrime MinisterDom Mintoff,who argued with the hijackers that the plane could not possibly take off with both the passengers and the 27,000 gallons of fuel they had demanded, given the (then) short runway. With 11 passengers on board the jumbo jet left Malta toDubai,where the incident ended without fatalities.[76]The hijack was claimed by the Arab Nationalist Youth Organization.
  • On 23 November 1985, Luqa Airport was the scene of one of the deadliest aircrafthijackingsin aviation history before theSeptember 11 attacks.[77]EgyptAir Flight 648was forced to land in Malta en route toLibya.Unit 777of theEgyptiancounter-terrorismforces was dispatched to deal with the incident. Storming of theBoeing 737,reluctantly authorised by Maltese officials after five hostages were shot, resulted in the death of over 60 passengers plus several security personnel and aircrew as well as the hijackers, members of theAbu NidalOrganization.
  • Abdelbaset al-Megrahiwas convicted for the 1988Lockerbie bombingon the theory that he loaded a bomb onto Air Malta Flight KM180 Malta-Frankfurtat Luqa Airport which it is alleged found its way via the interline baggage system ontoPan AmFeeder Flight 103A Frankfurt-Londonand eventually ontoPan Am Flight 103London-New York.In August 2009, al-Megrahi was released fromGreenock Prisonon compassionate grounds prior to returning to Tripoli, Libya for the final three years before his death in May 2012.
  • MLA was the origin airport of theAir Malta Flight 830Malta-Istanbulhijack which ended atCologne Bonn Airport.[citation needed]
  • On 21 February 2011, two Libyan fighter pilots, both claiming to be colonels, defected and landed theirMirage F1jets at the airport after refusing to carry out orders to fire upon a group of civilianLibyan protestersinTripoli.On the same day twoEurocopterSuper Pumahelicopters registered inFrancealso landed carrying seven French nationals who were under Italian contracts to work in Libya.[78][79]
  • On 24 October 2016, aCAE AviationFairchild Merlintwin turbopropcrashed on take-offa short distance from the runway. All five people on board were killed. The aircraft was taking part in a French-led surveillance operation to counter people smuggling.[80][81]
  • On 23 December 2016,Afriqiyah Airways Flight 209,operated by anAirbus A320-214,was hijacked while en route fromSabha AirporttoTripoli International Airportin Libya. The hijackers demanded the pilots to fly to Malta.[82]

References

[edit]
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[edit]

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