DC Aviation Malta has doubled the size of its passenger and crew lounge, and increased the footprint of its dispatch office. One of the few dedicated business aviation handlers on the island, the company was recently awarded an AOC by the Transport Malta Civil Aviation Directorate as reported in the March EBAN, and hosted the sixth annual Opportunities in Business Jets conference on 21 March.

“There are more than 250 business jets now registered in Malta,” says MD Stanley Bugeja. “In addition there are around 35 AOCs, of which 30 are business jet operators, including us. Business aviation traffic here had an extraordinary increase last year. Malta held the presidency of the Council of the European Union for the first time in the first half of 2017, but growth in traffic has continued into 2018. This is not at the same rate as we had last year, but growing nonetheless.

“You get business done in a speedy manner in Malta,” he explains. “As long as you have all your ducks in a row, EASA compliance and the necessary financial support, the right people and manuals, you make progress. This is not always true in other jurisdictions, and in this industry time is of the essence.

“Here, you can register an aircraft over the weekend or speak to the director of aviation at 10pm at night. That is definitely a reason why Malta remains popular.”

A number of MROs provide serv-ices out of Malta, which helps gener-ate traffic to the island. The economy of the country is stable, and has been rated A+ for the last few years.

“As a company we are very happy,” adds Bugeja. “We can get the necessary support we require. Being a company that focuses on business aviation holistically, we expect to see our activities and numbers increasing, as traffic continues to grow.”