A Malta-based private air charter company transported the Olympic torch during the first leg of its world journey, ahead of the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The three-and-a-half-month journey kicked off at the birthplace of the Olympic Games – Olympia – and the torch travelled through several Greek cities and islands, before moving on to Switzerland and then reaching its final destination in the 2016 host country.

Following a lighting ceremony in Athens on April 21, the torch embarked on a seven-day relay across Greece. The torchbearer, Ibrahim Al-Hussein, was a Syrian refugee who lost part of his right leg in a bomb attack in 2012. He carried the torch through the Eleonas refugee and migrant camp.

Malta-based AirX was then contracted to transport the torch from Athens to Geneva – the first international point of call, home to the seat of the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Museum in Lausanne.