The pros and cons of an airstrip in Gozo – Lesley Kreupl
- Who exactly needs an airstrip in Gozo? – Readers Letter
- An airstrip is a non-starter for tourism – Readers Letter
- Winter air travel between Gozo and Malta – Readers Letter
- An Airstrip for Gozo? – The Gozo Business Chamber
- Lack of Airfield services exposure – Readers Letter
- Seaplane service is of no use to Gozo – GBC
- Microlight aircrafts tested at the Gozo helipad
- A nightmare two weeks in ‘quiet and quaint’ Gozo
- Report to be drawn up on the viability of a Gozo airstrip
- Extensive road works being carried out in Marsalforn
- What hope is there for an eco island concept?
- Malta-Gozo seaplane proposal better than nothing
- New proposal to resume the Gozo – Malta helicopter service
- The end of Gozo tourism? – Roy Perry
- Trapped in Gozo – Readers Letter
I refer to the editorial in The Times of February 16, 2009 relating to the pros and cons of an airstrip in Gozo and to the article in your paper today.
This subject has been discussed many times in the past and while I agree that it would be convenient to have an air-shuttle service from Luqa to Gozo, a commercial venture would only be viable if it was heavily subsidised. Despite subsidies, the last service only managed to operate for a few months.
I think that it is grossly unfair for the people of Gozo and Malta to have to subsidize flights for tourists who can afford the prices, and business people whose flights are tax-deductible anyway!
Personally, I feel that as things stand now, the ferry connections are more than sufficient. In acute emergencies, an AFM helicopter is used. If business persons and well-off tourists really can’t be bothered to travel on the ferry, they can always charter a private helicopter.
The sea plane is just a sight-seeing gimmick and serves no real purpose, except to disturb the peace and infringe on one’s privacy.
If the hotel and tourist branch think that thousands of additional tourists will flock to Gozo if there is an air service, then I suggest that they are being taken for an expensive ride by their consultants, or are hallucinating!
From an environmental point of view – especially considering the ‘ecological island’ concept – one must realize that once the airstrip has been built it can never be ‘un-built’: that land will be destroyed forever.
Judging by what it costs to build roads on Gozo, the cost of extending the runway would run into millions of Euro. At present, the government cannot even keep the main arterial roads in a reasonable condition, so how on earth can they maintain an airstrip? Fixed wings planes cannot miss potholes like most helicopters can!
If a commercial fixed-wing venture failed, the government would be left with an expensive airstrip and no business – I would certainly not say that that was ‘no skin off the government’s nose’!
Once an airstrip has been built, it will also be utilized by flying schools and private planes. It would be very difficult to limit the use of the airstrip to one commercial company only. Even if this was possible, there would be so many ‘exceptions’ and ‘emergency landings’ that it would be a farce. Let us not kid ourselves with regard to the status of some residents.
I lived near a small airport on the outskirts of Munich for some years and I can assure you that the noise of small aircraft monotonously buzzing overhead is most irritating.
Thank goodness we only have a few visiting aircraft here at present (the float plane is unable to fly much in winter), however sitting in the sun and enjoying the bay at Xlendi on Monday afternoon there was one circling the area. Although it didn’t bite like a mosquito, it had the same effect – one just wanted to swat it down!
The charm of Gozo is, as the editorial mentioned, the fact that it is still relatively unspoilt, fairly unique and slightly more difficult to reach! Let’s keep it that way.
Many Maltese and foreigners have purchased property here because the island is so special – why?
Why do so many Gozitans who emigrated elsewhere in the world, always keep a foothold here on the island?
The tourists who visit the island – especially in the shoulder months and winter, when we need them most – are not looking for a stereotype destination. They want to enjoy the magnificent cliffs and ravines, the sparkling seas, thunder clouds and rainbows, wild flowers and fascinating rock formations, but possibly most of all, the peace and tranquillity they can find in the countryside. They most certainly do not want the noise pollution and invasion of privacy caused by noisy little aircraft!
Basically it boils down to:
Pros: convenience for the few, and
Cons: inconvenience to the whole population!
Lesley Kreupl
Gharb
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Does the GTA remember that some time ago Dr Joseph Muscat managed to get financial aid from the EU to operate the helicopter.
What happened since then ? As usual NOTHING and why ? So people will be fed this nonsense idea that the solution is an Air Strip.
I think the last helicopter fares were a big JOKE that was meant to fail from the start so that again we will be made to believe that the only option is an air strip.
Is this enough info? There is a lot more that hopefully everyone still remembers including the GTA .
Lesley and Swimmer I agree with you both here. What really annoys me is that every time this subject comes up it is said to be a tourist necessity. Rubbish. I’m a tourist and I can tell the Government right now that is they ever go ahead with such a scheme I will certainly never use it and will probably look for somewhere else to go on holiday.
Try to understand that myself and others come to Gozo for the peace and quiet. The same reason many Maltese families have weekend homes on Gozo; they enjoy the peace and quiet compared to Malta, which has for the most part been ruined. There is nothing nicer than going down to Hondoq Bay and seeing all the local people, Maltese people and tourists like myself enjoying themselves. Yet this is somewhere else they want to destroy. What ever happened to the Eco Island concept?
Looking at that photo, what a waste of land, car park and building
Since either fixed wing aircrafts and or helicopter is not viable
Can anybody tell me why it cannot be utilised as the law courts or something? why does the law courts have to be in the centre of Rabat?
Gozo needs an airstrip. Gozo is fully developed place and it forms part of the EU. We Gozitans, need this airstrip for convenience. As citizens of Malta, we demand this right. Why are some people bent on leaving gozo behind and this is coming from foreigners. Let the gozitans decide what is best for them. That is what democracy is all about.
@Tony Stivala
It would be excellent to be able to utilize this ground. Theoretically, the law courts could be accommodated there, however it is not very practical as it is too far from the centre of Rabat where most of the legal people have their offices. It would also be necessary to have several shuttle bus services from different parts of the island to service them.
@John Azzopardi
Malta has a perfectly good airport 40 odd km away. Do you think that every village in the EU has its own airstrip? I have to travel 150km to get from my home in Austria to the airport in Munich to fly to Malta – it takes a good two hours to drive there, if not more. My arguments have nothing to do with trying to keep Gozo in the dark ages. By the way how often did you use the heavily subsidised helicopter service paid for by your neighbours?
Please let the Gozitans decide. They KNOW what’s best for the island.
Once again, this discussion seems to be among folks who are retired and/or are occasional visitors. I no longer live on Gozo so I’m writing from both physical and psychic distance.
What the esteemed discussants are missing are people like the university students who need to get to Malta for classes or to take exams when the sea is too rough for the ferry. Why not give the exams here on Gozo? Finally that was done, once, insofar as I know.
Also missing from the discussion are those in the medical professions who live on Gozo and work in Malta. Or, for that matter, others who need to get to work in Malta, either in a hurry or when the water is too rough to take the ferry.
Yes, indeed, business people from Gozo often took the helicopter to meetings in Malta before it shifted to the Spanish company and doubled the fare. Basically, more than one mode of transportation is necessary.
I have to say Barbara Bode that I’m 100% against the idea of a fixed wing airstrip on Gozo. The island in my opinion has been raped enough by people whose only desire is to make money and to hell with everything else. The area in question is very sensitive from an environmental and historical viewpoint and any further expansion of what already exists there would cause the sort of damage that could never be put right. The person to talk to with regard to this is John Mizzi from Sannat who is somewhat of an expert in this area.
I think what people tend to forget here is that the building of a longer airstrip in order to accommodate fixed wing aircraft would open the island up to every Tom Dick and Harry with a big boys toy. It’s not just a case of the occasional 12 seater aircraft landing every now and again but the almost continuous use by private planes buzzing about the island all day.
Every weekend people from Malta come to Gozo to stay in their holiday apartments. Why? Because unlike the main island it is quiet and peaceful. Lesley Kreupl and her husband are not exactly tourists as they own their own home on Gozo and live there for over 6 months every year. The fact that they are contributing financially to the country I think gives them the right to have a say about what happens on the island. I fall into the occasional visitor category I suppose.
At the end of the day Barbara I have to agree with R. Scicluna here when I say that the only real way to settle this is to give the people of Gozo a vote on the matter, and by that I mean all the people who have a home on the island. I as a visitor have a right to my opinion but it is the Gozitan people who have the right to decide.
A number of contributers, mainly foreigners, on Gozo News.com and on other local papers are concerned, that a fixed wing airstrip on Gozo would cause damage, and would turn the area, into an unbearable place because of noise, pollution and all that it would bring with it. Most, if not all think, that the existing helipad would be turned into a full scale airport, which I can safely say is absolutly not the case. What would in fact take place would be an airstrip of just four hundred meters, in an area, which for many many years served and still is a huge rubbish dump. Clearing and doing away with this eye sore, would not in my opinion cause any harm to the environment, on the contrary, it will embellish the place.
I can safely say that the approach and take off of a light passenger aircraft, in the 25 to 30 passenger category, would cause very much less noise pollution than the defunct helicopter services, and certainly a lot less environmental damage than what our heavy commercial vehicles, that operate at will on the island, are doing at present.
What I find strange is how can some foreigners staying here for a brief time, be so insensitive, to Gozo’s needs. How many of these individuals are employing locals, may I ask? This only harbours on selfishness, wanting the island to remain in the past.
Gozo needs the airstrip badly, it will create jobs and give our young an opportunity for a better future.
To all those who are dead set against the airstrip, while I accept their opinion, even though most have no idea of what they are talking about, I will just say, If you dont like it, please pack up and go to St. Helena island in the middle of the Atlantic.
@Franco J Scicluna. Why do you find it so strange that foreigners like myself should have an opinion regarding an airstrip on Gozo? People like me were brought into this argument when people like you started to use us as an excuse to cause further environmental destruction on Gozo. Apparently tourists like myself are crying out for an air link. Nothing could be further from the truth. I come to Gozo every year Franco and I have yet to meet one single person in favour of an airstrip on the island.
Peace and quiet and relative isolation Franco, that’s why tourists come to Gozo. That’s why Maltese people buy second homes on Gozo. That’s why Gozitans living overseas retain homes on Gozo. As I’ve said before put it to a vote and let the Gozitan people decide. If it ever happens I can assure you it will not increase tourism, as you seem to think it will. It will in fact turn tourists away in search of somewhere quieter. Then no doubt you will be complaining about the lack of tourist expenditure!
In the meantime why don’t you tell us all who exactly will be using this airlink apart from you of course?