The first scheduled services saw Air Malta fly to the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Libya. Air Malta was Dom Mintoff’s brainchild in a Malta that was industrialising and finding its feet economically ahead of the withdrawal of British forces in 1979. After two unsuccessful attempts to rescue the airline in 2004 and 2010, Air Malta plc will be wound down to make way for KM Malta Airline plc. The new State-owned company will inherit the Air Malta brand name but only if it successfully wins a bidding process. “When I was at Air Malta, at budget time the minister used to go around to see what employment he could factor in.
