The notion of cell companies, which previously only applied to the insurance and securitisation sectors, has been broadened to also cover the shipping and aviation industries, the Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Business, Silvio Schembri said this morning.

Speaking while witnessing the lifting of a giant steel roof structure for the new ST Technics aircraft hangar, he explained that this development should prove to yield diverse opportunities within the aviation and shipping sectors among investors, charterers, and financiers.

One of the most important benefits emerging from the new legal structure, the Minister continued, is that assets and liabilities for each individual cell are considered a distinct patrimony and, therefore, separate from the core cell company and also from other individual cells.

Regulations being made by the authorities are providing the opportunities for companies already on the Malta Company Register to expand their operations and to segregate their assets and liabilities when they deem necessary, Mr Schembri noted, adding that such regulations can also attract new businesses, since they can be incorporated as a cell company.

He pointed out that since the regulations offer ringfencing by means of registration of different cells, the insolvency of one particular cell will have no impact on the remaining cells or the cell company. Thus, the Minister argued, it will certainly help companies facing difficulties after the complete standstill in busines operations worldwide.

Stressing the fact that aviation is a significant sector of the Maltese economy, Mr Schembri said the €40-million investment by SR Technics not only furthers the scope of the sector itself but will also create 350 new quality jobs for the younger generation.

The new, modern, multi-bay hangar is 100 per cent Malta Made, he noted, pointing out that the facility will also cater for the maintenance of wide-bodied aircraft and also put the company in a better position to service other airlines, as it already does with easyJet.

Describing the project as an engineering feat and a mammoth undertaking occupying more than 20,000 square metres of space, the Economy Minister said the new infrastructure will utilise about 1,200 tons of steel upon completion. It will allow the company to accommodate up to six narrow bodied aircraft at time for maintenance such as C checks, modifications, and retrofits.

He welcomed the fact that various local companies came together to cover all the specialised requirements allowing the project to come to life.

“The aviation industry is once again about to take flight and the time is ripe for our country to grasp the available opportunities in this era of the so-called new normality… This is the time to reassert control and determine where we want to go in these sectors,” the Minister asserted.

He concluded that, with the right framework and optimum infrastructure, Malta will crown itself as the hub of narrow-bodied aircraft maintenance in the aviation sector.