Marvic
Salina Bay and the magnificent turquoise waters of Malta’s northern coast acted as the backdrop for Malta’s biggest aviation meetup for the local industry during the first week of May. MAviO was celebrating the 10th edition of the event, and this will go down in history for a number of firsts. After two years of online conferences, MAviO 2022 was the first post-pandemic meetup to be held in person on the island. Together with our IT partners Radiosity Alpha we have used an advanced QR code booking system. The event was fully booked days in advance. MAviO’s board teamed up with several high-profile aeronautical publications for the event including Airliner World, ch-aviation and World Airnews among others. Presentations revolved around “electric airliners” which was the main theme of the half day conference. From the presentations and discussions, it clearly emerged how these are likely to revolutionize island hopping within the Mediterranean basin.
The MAviO board led by the ever-enterprising CEO Marvic Bugeja brought over the Editor-in-Chief of Airliner World, Gordon Smith as well as the COO of ch-aviation Max Oldorf. Together with CAPA’s Head of Analysis Richard Maslen they delved into the subject which gave rise to a healthy discussion with a number of interventions from the floor. The 2022 conference saw also presentations by well-known aviation attorney Dr Adreana Zammit and Enemed’s Ing. Ian Stafrace.
The Enemed MAviO Awards proved to be a tremendous success as always. They were ably coordinated by MAviO board member Joanne Calleja and for the first time ever a woman was recognised for her outstanding work. The Head of Personnel Licensing at TM-CAD Rachel Grech was conferred with the Leader of the Year award after she came in for a lot of praise from pilots who needed help to convert their license in the mayhem that followed BREXIT. The Aviator of the Year was awarded to First Officer / Flight Examiner Trevor Zammit who skillfully landed a crippled twin piston aircraft at Luqa in November 2021. The Lifetime Achievement Award was handed over by Minister Aaron Farrugia to Lt Col. Joseph Smith who played a crucial role in some of the most daring rescue missions in which the AFM Air Wing was involved during the 1970s and 1980s.
Chris
