In general, experience with Air Malta was ok. But the service delivered is (as expected and discussed) close to nil. I guess that I would get the same service if I used another handler. Fair price would be €70-€80 (pick-up at the apron and driving you to terminal building on arrival, guiding through immigration and driving to apron at departure, landing and parking fees).
Marshaling was limited to waving at final position on apron (which I got with taxi instructions from Luqa Ground) which was not needed at all since I managed to find the way 
from RW 13, across RW05 and few different taxiways to Apron 3 thanks to Ground taxi clearance and with help of SafeTaxi. Some airports (like LDZA) provide marshaling from landing to stand if you pay for it – I would expect such case for €125.
Ramp handling was limited to 3 chocks (3 pcs – not 3 pairs) and no tieing the aircraft (20 kts of wind). When I asked for the ropes the reply was “People usually bring their own ropes, we’ll see what we can do.” Of course nobody did anything and on departure I find the aircraft exactly how I left it.
On a positive side passing immigration was super smooth in both directions and they urged fuel delivery on depearture so we didn’t loose much time for that.
Total bill was €175 for landing&handling, parking and consession fee (whatever it is) – so it was as agreed. It’s higher than usual on large European airports – even my wife, who’s clueless about airport fees, asked if that was little bit too much.
At the end – would I repeat it? Yes, because if I want to fly to Malta on my own, practically there’s no other alternative.
I would like an airport to truly give me VIP service after landing but before taxing one foot past the runway hold point. I would like a guy to get in and take over the controls and guide my plane into the FBO general aviation apron.
Or an even better idea would be for a plane to tow a guy on a rope and before we get into the ATA somehow transfer his body and soul onto my plane. Thinking like air to air refueling. Once inside, he can take over the controls or at least guide me into the ATA and traffic pattern then to land and taxi to the GA ramp. He would know the local air currents so we would be safe from winding up on the rocks. Now thats what I would call service and well worth the handling charge.
No point in posting funnies. There is nothing funny about Malta.
Appreciate the info though and thanks.
C210_Flyer wrote:
No point in posting funnies. There is nothing funny about Malta.
Why? We’re here because of fun. Very few people, who post regularly here, are professional pilots and even they (usually) enjoy flying. Flying is all about fun. Take care and clear skies.
BTW Malta is really scenic place and very well worth of visiting, either GA or airliner, depending on your capabilities. We spent there 3 beautiful days, visiting few cities with (Valletta, Three Cities, Sliema, Blue Grotto, Rabat, Medina and Mosta) and enjoing local food. I’ll post few pictures and few words about the trip when I’m back home.
Incidentally I have nothing against visiting Malta, I’ve not been yet, but my Dad keeps a sailing boat there (so I have somewhere to stay!). The marine experience is almost the opposite to the aviation one so it seems – part of the reason for my Dad basing the boat in Malta was that it was about an order of magnitude less expensive to keep a boat in a marina in Malta than doing the same in France where he bought it.
I had a feeling that yachts might not be treated to the same standards as aviation. But once again it was just a feeling. You would think Planes and Yachts = rich so soak them would be the mentality both activities would face but I guess not.
I have personal stories about handlers that I could say, I can count only a very few whose activities I really needed for a trip. So when I dont need them I become resentful when Im forced to have one.
As Andreas has pointed out in the past value for the money spent.
C210_Flyer wrote:
I had a feeling that yachts might not be treated to the same standards as aviation
Indeed. Yachts are treated to a much better standard, and generally charged a great deal less!
Finally, I found some time yesterday evening to write short trip report “Zagreb to Valletta and back”.
Routing to Luqa LMML was as expected (known from previous trips to Sicily) with slightly shorter route if VFR departure and FL180 were chosen. I chose Comiso LICB as alternate because it’s the closest to LMML and because I was there few months ago. Significant overhead to direct routing across Italy and above Tyrrhenian Sea was caused by boundaries of radar controlled space.
The engines were set to 80% power, giving 125 KIAS and 166 KTAS at FL180 with 5.6 USG per hour per engine. The flight took us 3:50 (from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time) with 44 USG of Jet A1 spent.
Flying over Croatia and Bosnia we got all possible shortcuts as usual, practically getting direct to AIOSA immediately after picking up IFR clearance at 4000 ft. Ground speed to AIOSA was 200 kts on average, ranging between 193 kts at the beginning to 207 kts at the end of this portion of the flight.
No shortcut over Italy was approved except avoiding Bari which saved us approximately 2 minutes :) or less. Changing heading towards west after Bari, we lost favorable tailwind and picked up few kts of headwind until reaching VARAL where we turned towards south again and increased ground speed to 225 kts on average.
Heading mainly in direction of the sun which caused cockpit reflection and with haze over the sea, no good pictures could be taken but this one seemed decent enough to show smoke coming from Stromboli.
Reaching Sicily heading was changed slightly towards west and ground speed decreased to 175 kts before staring descent. Etna was pretty quiet with patches of snow still remaining in shady slopes.
Approach and landing were easy, vectoring for ILS RW13 with CAVOK and pretty strong headwind. Taxi instructions were clear and with help of SafeTaxi we were welcomed by Air Malta representative at Apron 3. Although fuel was promised on arrival we’re offered to wait for 1 hour or to refuel before departure. We opted for the second one and we were transferred to main building and left the airport.
Malta has pretty well organized and cheap public transport with buses connecting all places on the island, running on frequent schedule with rare delays, at least according to my experience. Trip from airport to Valletta is some 20 minutes, arriving at bus terminal at city gate. It took us five minutes of walk from bus terminal to our apartment (booked via booking.com) and after brief refreshment we went to city to find a place for lunch.
Generally food on Malta is good, a mixture of local dishes and Mediterranean cuisine: rabbit stew, rabbit liver, fish, octopus, sea urchins, shells, moussaka, meatballs, olives, soft cheese etc. I don’t take pictures of food :) so nothing to attach here.
I’m not an expert in architecture but I enjoy seeing nice old buildings. It seems that Malta can offer unique style of stone built houses with specific balcony.
Fortresses and churches dominate the island and we visited many, you can easily find major ones in guides or get recommendation from local people who are very friendly and helpful.
Fort St. Angelo
Saluting battery
At Victoriosa peninsula
At city of Rabat
Although not unique, Malta catacombs offer somewhat different features comparing to similar sites across Europe.
Blue Grotto – unfortunately only from distance, full visit was not possible due to wind.
In these almost four days we visited Valletta, Three Cities, Sliema, Blue Grotto, Rabat, Mdina and Mosta, so there’s a lot of to see in possible next visit.
On Sunday afternoon we were welcomed by Air Malta representative at information desk. We went smoothly and quickly through security and immigration checks and were transferred to apron. Of course fuel browser was not there but thanks to multiple calls it appeared with 45 min of delay. At least this delay was useful for catching some sun before departure.
Fuel price was as promised €0.53 (Hey Germany, Spain, France and others with expensive fuel, isn’t Malta in EU as well, with similar legislation, shouldn’t the fuel price be at the same range rather than being 3 to 4 times more expensive?) and refueling was quick and clean with pistol that prevented overfilling and spilling.
The route was similar to inbound flight with RW31 used for departure, flying northwest in direction of Gozo with pretty strong headwind.
Almost immediately after takeoff we were vectored north, picking some tailwind that was increasing during climb to FL180. Engine setup was as same as on inbound trip and we soon reached cruising level with 190 kts of ground speed.
We left Malta in dust and haze heading to Sicily with distant look to isolated TCUs and CBs. Sicily was also hazy and mainly covered with clouds so we were not able to see Etna, Catania, Taormina or Eolien islands.
Reaching RCA heading changed to northwest and we picked some 15 kts of headwind, decreasing ground speed to 150 kts.
Passing VARAL and turning northeast towards Italian coast we got tailwind again, increasing ground speed to 200 kts on average and it lasted to AIOSA where we turned northwest and north across Adriatic and Bosnia with mainly crosswind with ground speed around 170 kts until starting descend inbound Zagreb. Initial descend was to ZAG VOR for ILS RW23 but with lot of convective weather in that area we asked for visual approach avoiding few nasty looking TCUs with help of ATC and landing to RW23 just between two showers.
The flight took us 4:05 (from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. local time), spending 46 USG of Jet A1 and it was one of the rare occasions (at least for me) where I had mainly tailwind both on inbound and return flight.
Just one thing to add which is worth of visiting – marina at Vittorisa – for those who like yachts.
A beautiful report, Emir
Thanks for posting it.
(EuroGA sometimes moves along fast and people miss a good posting).
I see Hinda was very happy and that’s always a good start in GA 
