Being an island in the centre of the Mediterranean, as well as a British colony until 1964, Malta’s aviation history and heritage dates back quite a while. It geographic location, made Malta a very important military base for the Allied Forces during World War II, Malta holds the not so envious record of being the most bombed Allied Forces territory per square kilometre, surpassing even London.

The Maltese Department of Civil Aviation was established in the 1960’s and the Maltese Aircraft register, started slowly to take shape. The Maltese aircraft register is not highly populated, as it mainly consists of the fleet of some 6 companies which have an AOC in Malta. This is changing.

Malta has established itself in the international maritime atmosphere, with its shipping register being in the top five registers worldwide. Malta made an excellent capital on its martime heritage and its unique tax infrastructure.  Malta has yet to capitalised on its aviation heritage. The government has identified this as a potential growth market. Malta being an EU and a JAA/EASA country provides a sound infrastructure for aircraft operations in a safe and most impartantly tax effective environment. Malta is no Flag of convenience and owners/operators wanting to make use of its infrastructure must abide strictly to all JAA/EASA rules and regulations. So what is the advantage? Due to its current register size, Malta can guarantee personal attention to each organisation wanting to setup its operation on our shores. Operations which are in conformity with the JAA/EASA requirements can commence their operations with a Maltese licence in as little as 3 months. Not only the authority fees are amongst the lowest in the European Union, but also the Maltese labour market is amongst the cheapest and most educated within the EU. Malta has effectively no language barrier as together with Maltese, English is an official language, thus all application forms and legal documents are in English. The cherry on the cake is Malta’s unque tax benefit, where effectively non resident shareholders pay effectively 5% tax on their profits. Intrigued? Contact Stanley Bugeja – Managing Director, Sierra Aviation for further information on stanley@sierra-aviation.com.