The aviation cluster in Malta will grow to include British aircraft manufacturer and aviation services provider Britten-Norman, through a Heads of Agreement signed between Malta Industrial Parks and the company. The establishment of a local base will involve an investment of €1 million over a three-year period and will create 14 new quality jobs.

Through discussions with Malta Enterprise and Malta Industrial Parks, an airside land allocation has been assigned at the Safi Aviation Park for the company to consolidate its operations. BrittenNorman’s operation from Malta will have multiple facets, having already applied for approvals from Transport Malta’s Civil Aviation Directorate for a number of operations. The company has applied for an Air Training Organisation certificate so that it can train pilots in Malta, as well as for a Maintenance Training Organisation certificate in order to train engineers ,and technicians on this type of aircraft. Britten-Norman shall also be looking at registering a number of its aircraft on the Malta registry and has recently entered a new three-year agreement for training of the AFM pilots. The cluster in Malta has seen extensive investment by the government in order to facilitate operations. This investment has been centred around four new hangars at the Safi Aviation Park that has been constructed since 2016 through ERDF funds, that has propagated a specialised industrial area designed to provide secure, airside facilities for the industry, particularly within the MRO sector.

“Malta aims to develop into a fully-fledged aviation centre that supports the entire spectrum of aviation-related services. We are committed to continuing to build a cluster of quality and BrittenNorman’s addition is a testament to the potential of our jurisdiction,” said Minister Cardona. The aviation cluster as the end of April 2019, employed 1,409 individuals representing an increase of circa 5.4% on the employment levels recorded in the same month in the previous year. Employment within the MRO sector has been particularly strong. As at the end of April 2019 under MRO activities, there were 959 FT employees. This represents an increase of 78 full-time employees (or +8.9%) on the levels recorded in April 2018. As at the end of April 2019, full-time employment in this sector contributed to 4.8% of the full-time employment in the manufacturing sector.

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