In mid-June, a triumvirate made up of Handson Systems, QuAero and the German company Phoenix-Wings GmbH started a series of attempts to fly a cargo drone between Malta and the almost uninhabited island of Comino, which currently only has two elderly residents.

MaviO News spoke to HandsOn Systems CEO Geoffrey Farrugia, who stated that these trials have fully shown the enormous potential of drones in Malta. The freight delivery service is scheduled to start this year. Initially, medical supplies will be transported between Malta and Gozo, but the company has been approached by other potential customers, including those who supply spare parts for critical equipment. The drone used in the tests has a payload of 10 kg. Transport Malta - Civil Aviation Directorate has limited the drone's altitude to 400 feet AMSL.

The trials, which were carried out over a period of five days, were carried out under the watchful eye of the local authorities. The first official flight of the SkyMax drone was also approved by the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Investment Projects, Dr. Ian Borg, who praised the three partners involved in this futuristic project and confirmed how excited he was to witness such a technological breakthrough in the Maltese logistics network. Geoffrey Farrugia announced that it would take the 25kg drone 20 minutes to fly from Malta's capital Valletta to the sister island of Gozo. The three companies have ambitious expansion plans, and all three agree that inter-island passenger drones will become a reality within the next three to five years.

The command and control center in Cirkewwa was manned by ex-Air Malta captain Alan Muscat, Ing Simon Bugeja and Adrian Borg. Interestingly, during the press release, Minister Ian Borg also highlighted a number of changes in the Maltese aircraft register, which now include a reference to pilotless or unmanned aircraft.

This post was written by: Chris Cauchi - MAviO News