Malta ‘ready to import human resources from abroad’ if insufficient local resources found – Gatt

“Human resources locally in the aviation register industry are at a premium, hence we will not hesitate to import human resources from the EU,” he insisted.

Gatt made this revelation this afternoon during a seminar during which he launched Malta’s aircraft registry.

He revealed how TM had opted for foreign candidate in the aviation registry after the Maltese candidate with equal experience had asked for a wage “twice as much”.

However, Gatt said that he would like to introduce as system of sub-contracting in the aviation registry as Transport Malta already has for its maritime registry, with agents contracted at each major port who would examine ships on behalf of Malta.

“Recently we had a request for the registration of 28 helicopters. We surely do not have the expertise to handle that and will have to look for assistance with other DCA’s across Europe,” Gatt revealed.

Gatt explained that as soon as he was re-appointed Transport Minister in this legislature, he had put as one of his legislative priorities an aircraft register which was at par with Malta’s maritime register.

If we have made it from scratch in the maritime register and in financial services, I am sure that we will also make it in the aircraft register as well,” Gatt insisted.

The Transport Minister explained that as with the case of financial services and the maritime register, the Government and the Opposition had agreed “both on the concept of an aircraft register as well as with the details”.

“I am not happy with a 1 or 2% value added growth,” he insisted. “We should go for double-digit growth, possibly up to 20%,” Gatt added.

“Malta has a maritime register which is third in the world, Malta Freeport is fifth in the Mediterranean and we see the potential to grow to third or second, and we would like to see the aircraft register growing significantly as well,” he insisted.

Likewise, Lufthansa Technic had grown from 70 employees to 700 in the space of a couple of years.

Gatt announced that tomorrow, the Financial Times would be organising a special conference about Malta in the UK.

He appealed to his audience, which was made mainly of financial services’ practitioners, lawyer and aviation experts, “to promote Malta’s aircraft register with their contacts. You can do much more than the Government can do, he added.

Asked about from where they would be expecting competition, Gatt explained that the other financial services countries’, such as Gibraltar and the Isle of Man, would be Malta’s main competitors.

He conceded that it would be difficult to attract commercial aircraft at first, however Malta could be more attractive for corporate jets and non-leisure airlines.

One of the major advantages of the Maltese maritime register was that registrations were accepted 7 days a week, Sundays included. “That was critical when compared with the UK shipping registry, which closes on Friday at 5pm”, Gatt insisted.