Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1342444
Strengthening the infrastructure for the aviation industry THE local aviation industry was in recent years growing and shaping up nicely into a cluster of diverse activities providing an extensive range of services, which growth was made pos- sible by the constant support including the investment in the industrial infrastructure spear- headed by INDIS Malta. The growth of the aviation in- dustry was somewhat ground to a halt when the COVID-19 pandemic struck and ground- ed most aircraft for long peri- ods of time, severely impact- ing the industry which indeed was among the worst hit by the pandemic. Even more so within these challenging times, Govern- ment's main goal is to sup- port the entire economy and industry to weather the storm, remain sustainable, and return to the strong performance that was being registered prior to the pandemic. The aviation industry is no exception, and aid was grant- ed through various schemes, among which the COV- ID-Wage Supplement. The initiatives aimed at sup- porting the local aviation in- dustry, however, are more expansive and take a holistic approach covering skills, in- frastructure itself, and the en- hancing of existing projects to provide an avant-garde service within the aviation industry. This vision was recently out- lined by the Hon. Minister for the Economy and Industry Silvio Schembri during a visit to Gulf Med Aviation Servic- es, which provides a range of helicopter-based services, in- cluding maintenance services, aircraft management, air am- bulance and emergency med- ical services, as well as offshore services for industries such as oil and gas. The visit to the 120,000 square metre facility - which was one of three hangars built in a €5 million project co-financed through ERDF to expand the Safi Aviation Park - was an ideal platform to outline Government's holistic vision for the local aviation in- dustry and express proximity to the operators within these challenging times. Reference was made to the significant investment in pro- jects aimed at improving the current infrastructure which the Ministry for Economy and Industry has embarked upon through INDIS Malta. Such projects include a €5 million investment to upgrade one of the taxiways at the Malta International Airport to accommodate wide-body aircraft, thereby enabling the maintenance, repair and over- haul (MRO) facilities in this area to attract a new range of clients when their work picks up again. Another €5 million invest- ment specifically targeted to support the aviation industry and which also forms part of INDIS Malta's infrastructural in- vestment programme is being made in the development of a car park that will cater for the needs of the increased work- force as well as the additional clients that will be visiting the area, thereby enabling the avi- ation industry's further growth. On a longer term, INDIS Malta is also the main driver behind the Airport Zone Strategy Plan that will be seeking to devel- op current underutilised and dilapidated sites within and around the airport perimeter, as well as create high-quality and sustainable aviation-relat- ed clusters. This is an ambitious, holis- tic plan that would span over three decades with significant returns to our country and its people, as we would be in a THIS FEATURE IS PAID FOR BY INDIS MALTA MINISTER FOR THE ECONOMY, SILVIO SCHEMBRI