Malta International Airport

Overview

image-width	250
iata	MLA
icao	LMML
type	Public
owner	Malta International Airport plc
location	Luqa, Malta
hub	KM Malta Airlines Medavia *Universal Air
operating base	Ryanair (Malta Air)
elevation-f	300
elevation-m	91
coordinates	35.8575°N, 14.4775°W
website	https://www.maltairport.com
pushpin map	Malta
pushpin mapsize	250
pushpin label	MLA/LMML
pushpin map caption	Location on a map of Malta
metric-rwy	y
r1-number	05/23
r1-length-m	2,377
r1-length-f	7,799
r1-surface	Asphalt concrete
r2-number	13/31
r2-length-m	3,544
r2-length-f	11,627
r2-surface	Asphalt concrete
stat1-header	Passengers
stat1-data	8,957,451
stat-year	2024 ‡R1R‡
stat2-header	Passenger change 23-24
stat2-data	14.79%
stat3-header	Aircraft movements
stat3-data	58,773
stat4-header	Movements change 23-24
stat4-data	14.45%
stat5-header	Cargo (kilos)
stat5-data	23,624,455
stat6-header	Cargo change 23-24
stat6-data	14.44%
footnotes	RWY source: ARINC eff. 2020-01-30‡R2R‡

Malta International Airport is the only airport in Malta, and it serves the whole of the Maltese Islands. It is located on the island of Malta, southwest of the Maltese capital, Valletta, in the town of Luqa, and occupies the location of the former RAF Luqa. The airport serves as the main hub for KM Malta Airlines and Medavia besides being an operating base for Ryanair and its subsidiary Malta Air. It is also home to the Area Control Center and hosts the annual Malta Airshow. The airport is operated by Malta International Airport plc.

It has been the hub of KM Malta Airlines since March 2024 and the hub of its predecessor, Air Malta, from 1974 to 2024.

History

Early years

Accidents and incidents

On 5 January 1960, Vickers Viscount G-AMNY of British European Airways was damaged beyond economic repair at Luqa when it departed the runway after landing following a loss of hydraulic pressure.[136]

On 25 November 1973, Luqa Airport witnessed the landing of KLM Flight 861. The aircraft, named "Mississippi", was a Boeing 747 hijacked by three young Arabs over Iraqi airspace on a scheduled Amsterdam-Tokyo flight with 247 passengers on board, after the hijackers threatened to blow up the plane when no country would grant landing permission. Most of the passengers and the eight stewardesses were released after negotiations with the Maltese Prime Minister Dom Mintoff, who argued with the hijackers that the plane could not possibly take off with both the passengers and the 27,000 gallons of fuel they had demanded, given the (then) short runway. With 11 passengers on board the jumbo jet left Malta to Dubai, where the incident ended without fatalities.[137] The hijack was claimed by the Arab Nationalist Youth Organization.

On 23 November 1985, Luqa Airport was the scene of one of the deadliest aircraft hijackings in aviation history before the September 11 attacks.[138] EgyptAir Flight 648 was forced to land in Malta en route to Libya. Unit 777 of the Egyptian counter-terrorism forces was dispatched to deal with the incident. Storming of the Boeing 737, reluctantly authorised by Maltese officials after five hostages were shot, resulted in the death of over 60 passengers plus several security personnel and aircrew as well as the hijackers, members of the Abu Nidal Organization.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing on the theory that he loaded a bomb onto Air Malta Flight KM180 Malta-Frankfurt at Luqa Airport which it is alleged found its way via the interline baggage system onto Pan Am Feeder Flight 103A Frankfurt-London and eventually onto Pan Am Flight 103 London-New York. In August 2009, al-Megrahi was released from Greenock Prison on compassionate grounds prior to returning to Tripoli, Libya for the final three years before his death in May 2012.

MLA was the origin airport of the Air Malta Flight 830 Malta-Istanbul hijack which ended at Cologne Bonn Airport.

On 21 February 2011, two Libyan fighter pilots, both claiming to be colonels, defected and landed their Mirage F1 jets at the airport after refusing to carry out orders to fire upon a group of civilian Libyan protesters in Tripoli. On the same day two Eurocopter Super Puma helicopters registered in France also landed carrying seven French nationals who were under Italian contracts to work in Libya.[139][140]

On 24 October 2016, a CAE Aviation Fairchild Merlin twin turboprop crashed on take-off a short distance from the runway. All five people on board were killed. The aircraft was taking part in a French-led surveillance operation to counter people smuggling.[141][142]

On 23 December 2016, Afriqiyah Airways Flight 209, operated by an Airbus A320-214, was hijacked while en route from Sabha Airport to Tripoli International Airport in Libya. The hijackers demanded the pilots to fly to Malta.[143]

Malta International Airport

History

Early years

Development since the 1990s

Facilities

Overview

Other facilities

Military usage

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

Busiest routes (by country)

Busiest airlines

Ground transportation

Bus

Car

Accidents and incidents

External links

References