Speaking on Tuesday, Gulf Med Aviation Services’ CEO, Emma Finlay-Broadbelt said that in 2021, as a company, “[Gulf Med has] to look to the future, and address the new normal, however abnormal it feels”.
At a press conference, also attended by Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Businesses, Silvio Schembri, Ms Finlay-Broadbelt spoke of Gulf Med’s plans for 2021.
In 2021, she said, the company will “be investing in [its] infrastructure, equipment and additional personnel”.
She speaks of how COVID effected the company’s philosophy, and the lessons it taught them, it learned it needs to stretch itself, and that, it needs to invest as much as possible in local development, to mitigate the damage of prospective future crises.
In 2021, it will build on new partnerships with MCAST and the Institute of Aerospace Technologies at the University of Malta to help develop local talent.
Malta-based Gulf Med offers a spectrum of services, from aircraft management, to onshore and offshore service, to maintenance, which it operates via its state-of-the-art hangar facility inside Malta International Airport.
Ms Finlay-Broadbelt emphasised that she is pleased with the progress the company has made in the last three years, since its foundation in 2017.
Among the company’s highlights, she emphasises the company's winning of a Cyprus Government contract to service the police helicopter search and rescue unit and introduced the Airbus Helicopters H135 to enhance the Gozo air ambulance service.
The CEO also thanked the company’s stakeholders, whose support, she emphasises, was a key component in its success.
She thanks INDIS Malta, the Malta Civil Aviation Directorate, Malta Enterprise, and the ministry in general for their support during the pandemic.
On his part, Mr Schembri held up Gulf Med as acting in a sector that is “yet another niche in the aviation sector”.
He also said that during the pandemic, the industry “was inevitably hit hard and highly effected”, but that, “as a nation, and as a Government, [they] sought to stand shoulder to shoulder” in support of the industry.
