Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Malta International Airport (ICAO: LMML) is the only international airport serving the Maltese Islands, sited at Luqa a short distance southwest of the capital Valletta on the site of the former RAF Luqa. It offers a simulator pilot two substantial hard-surfaced runways, ILS approaches on the main runway, and a layered history running from wartime RAF operations to today's busy civil hub for KM Malta Airlines and Ryanair.
Malta International Airport is the sole international airport for the whole of the Maltese Islands, located in the town of Luqa southwest of Valletta on the site of the former RAF Luqa. It is the main hub for KM Malta Airlines and Medavia and an operating base for Ryanair and its subsidiary Malta Air, and it also hosts the country's Area Control Centre. For a visiting simulator pilot it combines a long ILS-equipped main runway suitable for large jets with a compact, historically rich airfield layout that still bears the imprint of its RAF origins.
The airfield lies on the island of Malta, southwest of Valletta, in the town of Luqa, occupying the ground of the former RAF Luqa station. As the country's only international airport it sits beneath and within Malta's busy controlled airspace structure and is home to the Area Control Centre for the Malta Flight Information Region. Coordinates for the field are 35.8575N, 14.4774E, with a field elevation of 256 feet.
The airport has two physical runways. The main runway, 13/31, is 11,598 feet long on runway heading 13 and 10,994 feet on the reciprocal 31, has a hard surface, is lit, and is equipped with ILS in both directions. The secondary runway, 05/23, is 7,890 feet long on 05 and 7,880 feet on 23, also hard-surfaced and lit, though without ILS.
Published frequencies for the airport include Approach on 128.15 MHz, Distance Radar on 130.975 MHz, Ground on 121.6 MHz, a Leaving frequency on 123.625 MHz, Runway (tower) on 138.1 MHz, Volmet on 126.8 MHz, and Weather on 127.4 MHz. The main runway, 13/31, is equipped with ILS for instrument approaches.
The airfield stands on the site of RAF Luqa, one of several airfields built on Malta alongside earlier fields at Ta' Qali and Ħal Far. During the Second World War the airfields at Ta' Qali and Ħal Far were heavily damaged by bombing, and civil and military aviation subsequently centred on Luqa. Rising passenger numbers after the war led to the construction of a dedicated civil air terminal at Luqa, financed largely by the British Government and inaugurated on 31 March 1958 by the Governor of Malta, Sir Robert Laycock. A longer runway was opened in October 1977, accompanied by further terminal extension and refurbishment, including new arrivals and VIP lounges. By the late 1980s the Luqa terminal, then thirty-five years old, was judged inadequate, and a new terminal was built nearby at Gudja, with its foundation stone laid in September 1989. The new terminal was completed in record time and Malta International Airport became fully operational on 25 March 1992, after which the old Luqa passenger terminal closed, later being repurposed largely for cargo. In November 1995 Balkan Bulgarian Airlines, in partnership with Air Malta, introduced a Boeing 767 service linking Sofia to New York via Malta.
Malta International Airport is the main hub for KM Malta Airlines and Medavia and serves as an operating base for Ryanair and its subsidiary Malta Air, whose based fleet grew steadily from one aircraft in 2010 to six by 2019. The airport hosts the Area Control Centre for Malta's airspace and stages the annual Malta Airshow. Aircraft maintenance is carried out on site by facilities operated by Lufthansa Technik and SR Technics, and the head office of Medavia is located on the airport property. The old Luqa terminal building, once the civil air terminal, is today used mainly for cargo operations.
