Perit Joe Bugeja writes:
It was with deep sadness that the news of Joe Sultana’s passing had hit us. Our first thoughts and condolences went to his family. His dedication to Anna, their daughters Janet and Ingrid, and his brother Henry was reciprocated by their loving support during his long illness.
Joe Sultana is synonymous with the emergence and establishment of modern civil aviation in Malta. Ever since the early days of civil aviation when he joined in the 1960s up to his retirement, Joe was always among the protagonists. Even until recently, he was researching and documenting the progress of civil aviation with the view to publish it as a book.
On joining the Civil Aviation Department as a young Masters post-graduate in Sciences, he soon clicked well with his head and early mentor – Gerry Ferro. One has to note that, at the time, the entire Luqa Airport fell under the reserved matters of colonial rule. Within a few years, all these airport activities were to be transferred to the Maltese government by March 31, 1979. It was an intense training period enabling young Maltese to be trained and certified to run their country’s only airport.
This period also coincided with the investment by the Maltese government to develop the new principal runway at Luqa Airport. Being one of young Maltese at the time in that new takeover group, it was also my first opportunity to collaborate with Joe to develop the necessary air traffic procedures for the new runway.
Following the successful takeover of all airport responsibilities in 1979, Joe’s challenges took a different stance. It became obvious that the airport infrastructure and the navigational aids needed serious modernisation. Following the Dingli radar, the new terminal building was on the cards. With its development came the fundamental concept to hive off operational day-to-day activities from the more regulatory role of what was at the time the Civil Aviation Department. His active participation in the legislative and operational challenges to establish the various MATS, MIA and eventually Lufthansa Technic went a long way to make the modern set-up successful.
Joe kept steady and determined in his civil aviation career path. He had the tenacity and wisdom to continuously participate in an exciting and sometimes turbulent vision of transforming the colonial military airfield to the international airport reality it is now. A heartfelt thank you to the affable person who was a key catalyst player enabling the transformation of Malta’s civil aviation.