Harbour landings

According to The Times of January 16 the vital air link between Malta and Gozo will be restored by May with the introduction of a seaplane service. Much pressure was being put on the government and Gozo Ministry for this link to be restored as its interruption was having a negative effect on tourism in Gozo.

A task force of sorts has been set up to study the alternatives.

It is not easy to find an acceptable solution that is economically feasible to the company which is running the service, which does not require any subsidy from the government, is safe and not expensive for the passengers and environment-friendly. One assumes that these were the terms of reference for the board to choose the right alternative for the helicopter service.

The operator is the Canadian subsidiary of the British aviation manufacturer founded in 1920, the De Havilland Aircraft Company. It is a serious company with lots of experience and expertise in this type of aviation service over Canadian islands.

One has no doubt about the resources of this company and of its capability of running the service between Malta and Gozo. The company must have done its homework before applying to offer its service and it is convinced that it will run the service at a profit.

This is the best option from the environmental point of view. There is no need for the extension of the airstrip, which has always been a bone of contention with the environmentalists. The political parties did not agree about this either.

The cost of the trip is also quite reasonable. The frequency of the service is very good with 13 trips per day. It has been stated that the service will only be hampered by extreme weather conditions, especially southwesterly winds. This is a catch as no one has defined what "extreme" really means. Bad weather at night is far worse than during daytime.

Will the seaplanes operate at night as well? The seaplane is intended to land over Grand Harbour and Mgarr Harbour, which are both sheltered, especially the former. The latter is already congested with Gozo Channel ferries and numerous fishing and pleasure boats, since it is also a yacht marina.

It will not be that difficult to find an area within Grand Harbour to land the seaplane but it is more difficult to navigate a seaplane over a small and busy harbour like Mgarr.

Another practical problem with the Grand Harbour is that people who have a connecting international flight have to take a bus to the airport, which is about 20 minutes away considering the heavy traffic between Valletta and Gudja.

The Gozo heliport has been left out of the equation so one assumes that check-in of luggage will not be carried out in Gozo but in Malta. This is rather inconvenient because the passengers have to handle their luggage both on their way to Malta from Gozo and after arriving in Malta.

All in all, though, it is an experiment worth undertaking. At least a temporary solution has been found. If the benefits outnumber the disadvantages, then the decision taken is both wise and justified.