Air Malta’s Chief Officer Flight Operations Mark Micallef Eynaud was awarded with the prestigious Aviator of Year Award during the second edition of the World Airnews Aviation Awards. The event was held at the Bank of Valletta’s head office in St Venera earlier this week.

This award was presented following the air to air filming and photography promotional shoot round the Maltese islands organised last March which saw the first ever formation flying of the airline’s Airbus A320 aircraft at an altitude of between 1500 and 2000 feet. The event generated a lot of interest and the video footage and photos went viral on social media in a matter of hours.

The award presentation also saw the launch of the Malta Special, an 8-page spread featured in the World Airnews magazine. The international magazine has featured the air-to-air Air Malta photo shoot over Valletta on its front cover.

Captain Mark Micallef Eynaud was at the controls of one of Air Malta’s Airbus A320s and played a crucial role in the preparation for the flights. A lot of planning was done to organise and coordinate this experience by various Air Malta departments that included Flight Operations, Marketing and Branding, Corporate Communications, Cargo and Ground Handling Services.

The planning also included the participation of several external organisations amongst which were the Malta Air Traffic Services and the Department of Civil Aviation. Throughout the planning and execution of the flight, safety was paramount.

The selection committee, entrusted with selecting the winners, was chaired by aviation lawyer Francesca Galea who was assisted by Captain Sinclair Portelli and university lecturer, Riccardo Flask.

The World Airnews Lifetime Achievement Award was presented by Minister for Tourism Karmenu Vella to Malta’s Aviation Museum director Ray Polidano, whose foresight led to the establishment of one of Malta’s main tourist attractions at Ta’ Qali. The Malta Aviation Museum Foundation headed by Mr Polidano was commended for continuously striving to add interesting exhibits, whilst also managing to restore an aircraft to airworthy condition.

Mr Alex Vit was presented with the Leader of the Year Award by Captain Sinclair Portelli. Mr. Vit, is the Managing Director at Maintenance Centre Malta.

World Airnews is Africa’s leading aviation journal with 50,000 readers worldwide, the majority of these are flight deck crew and major players within the aviation industry.

Photo – Capt Mark Micallef Eynaud, Air Malta Chief Officer Flight Operations being presented with the Aviator of the Year Award by Mr Charles Borg, Chief Executive, Bank of Valletta.

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