‘Momentous day’
Lufthansa Technik Malta celebrated a “momentous day” as it welcomed Lufthansa’s brand new Airbus A350-900 in Malta for the first time yesterday.
Lufthansa Technik Malta celebrated a “momentous day” as it welcomed Lufthansa’s brand new Airbus A350-900 in Malta for the first time yesterday.
The long-haul aircraft, registered as D-AIXB, arrived on the island on Friday evening and is currently undergoing a scheduled C-check at the facility at Luqa Airport.
A ceremony took place to commemorate the occasion, with Tourism Minister Julia Farrugia Portelli, Economy Minister Silvio Schembri, and Education and Employment Minister Owen Bonnici all in attendance.
Speaking at the company’s hangar in Ħal Farruġ, with the aircraft as the spectacular backdrop, Lufthansa Technik Malta’s CEO, Marcus Motschenbacher, said that the first lay-over of Lufthansa’s new A-350 at the facilities was a great milestone for Lufthansa Technik.
He said that the fact that this plane and its sister aircraft have been trusted to Lufthansa Technik Malta reflects the high level of skills and expertise which differentiate the Malta base from its competitors around the world.
“We are honoured to be the only facility in the Lufthansa Technik network to be performing these checks on Airbus
A350s. It represents the future of our modernised product portfolio and allows our staff to grow in size and expertise in advanced technologies. Furthermore, in 2020 this milestone for Lufthansa Technik Malta is even more meaningful given that it coincides with an important anniversary of our parent Lufthansa Technik AG, which began operations as an independent stock company 25 years ago,” he said.
Tourism Minister Julia Farrugia Portelli spoke of how the tourism sector remains a pivotal sector for the economy, having experienced unprecedented growth which has led to ten consecutive record years for arrivals.
She said that there were 2.6 million visitors to Malta in the first 11 months of 2019, an increase of 5.8 per cent when compared to the same period in 2018, before noting that this means that the volume of passengers has doubled since 2010.
She explained that bed nights and expenditure have also increased, with the latter reaching €2.1 billion in contribution from tourists to the Maltese economy. She said that Malta was exploring ways of tapping into longhaul markets, and improving connectivity to the islands.
She said that the maintenance, repair, and provision of service for the aviation industry has a strong foothold in Malta, with the country being an ideal base due to its skilled labour, productive workforce, and committed government support, among others.
She said that the demand is expected to increase and that the government has, as a result, committed to drawing up an aviation masterplan to make sure that the development of ancillary services is more organised in order to ensure sustainability, efficiency, and greater productivity.
Economy Minister Silvio Schembri spoke of his satisfaction that Lufthansa was confident in Malta’s maintenance team and workers. He said that the company is an important ally for Malta within the aviation sector.
He said that he has “absolute trust” in Malta’s economy, noting that the European Union is predicting that, once again, Malta will register the highest economic growth across the Union. This, he said, will translate into more jobs and capital projects which society will ultimately benefit from.
“Our people are set to benefit as the aviation cluster continues to develop further and create more opportunities for workers,” he said.
Education and Employment Minister Owen Bonnici meanwhile praised the collaboration that exists between the Malta College for Arts, Science & Technology and Lufthansa Technik, noting that the college provides the necessary set up to train students by giving them experience on the job and guaranteeing exciting prospects.
He said that out of the 650 people currently at the company, a fifth are students on traineeships at varying stages, before also noting that MCAST have already trained 500 people for work within the aviation sector.
Bonnici said that the Maltese economy has proven capable of creating various opportunities, and augured for the continued development of exciting sectors such as that of aviation in the near future.
German Ambassador to Malta Walter Haßmann spoke, on what he described as a momentous day, of his pride that the pinnacle of European engineering was being serviced in Malta, a country which has created the right conditions for this to happen.