Malta International Airport has issued a statement in response to ALPA’s call this morning for MIA to make good the losses incurred by airlines following the runway closure on Tuesday night.
The airport said that it is currently conducting an inquiry to understand what caused its power generators to malfunction last Tuesday [1] during the nationwide blackout.
The investigation so far has ruled out speculation that the generators were not properly maintained or out of diesel, MIA said.
“We carried out a simulation of the exact same scenario within 48 hours, without any adjustments to the terminal generators, and the system worked without a hitch,” said a spokesman for MIA.
MIA reiterated that following the nationwide blackout on Tuesday, it suspended its runway operations for 25 minutes during which no flight operations would have been disrupted. However, Air Traffic Control kept the runway closed for a further 1 hour and 45 minutes citing safety precautions.
MIA added that it will work to ensure, within the shortest time possible, that it can guarantee continuity in similar occurrences.
“Once again we apologise to all our stakeholders and passengers for the inconvenience caused.”
Malta International Airport thanked the pilots’ union for its interest in the blackout incident but said that if “any discussions were to take place on redress, these would be held between the airport and the airlines affected.”
Aerial photograph of MIA taken by Kurt Arrigo.