Grounded: No fuel for light aircraft

Private light aircraft are grounded at Malta International Airport because of the unavailability of Avgas, the fuel on which these aircraft run.

Ivan Gatt, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, said the association has been inundated with calls from furious owners who operate commercially. About 20 aircraft have been affected.

"It is incredible that in this day and age, the company responsible for the supply of Avgas 100LL at the airport has run out of this type of fuel. All private aircraft running on Avgas are currently grounded which is an unacceptable situation," Dr Gatt said.

The reason for the unavailability of this type of fuel is unclear. Requests for more information from Malta International Airport and Enemalta Corporation, which supplies the fuel, brought no response.

Pilots of light aircraft who intend to land here have been notified, through their flight information bulletin, that "Avgas fuel is temporarily not available".

This is certainly bad for Malta's image, Dr Gatt added.

This has been the situation for a number of days and until yesterday Dr Gatt had not yet been informed when this type of fuel will be available again.

ICAO's (International Civil Aviation Organisation) regulations stipulate that for an international airport to maintain its status, it has to have this type of fuel available at all times, he noted.

Some years ago, an Avgas 100LL fuel depot was constructed costing thousands of Maltese liri.

This depot was also meant to serve as a self-service pump for light aircraft to avoid the costly fuelling through Enemalta employees and vehicles. But this practice is still in use, because the depot, though having everything in place for it to be functional, has yet to be commissioned.