The IATA three letter code GZM is probably not known to many. However, it is the only aviation location on a Mediterranean island. At only 174 meters, the runway is extremely short and therefore suitable for very few aircraft. Furthermore, there are only two official airfields with the IATA three-letter code in this state. Although this place has a terminal that is strongly reminiscent of a lost place, it is not an airport, but a heliport and the only one on the Maltese island of Gozo.

The take-off and landing site, which is located in the municipal area of ​​Xewkija, is not that easy to find, because there have been no traffic signs pointing to it for a long time. What for? The regular service was stopped a few years ago and the Gozo Heliport has been bobbing around since then. The passenger terminal stands idle in a breathtaking landscape, but the hedge and palm trees have obviously not been cut for a long time. The windows of the small check-in hall, which used to have ticket sales, check-in, security, a small kiosk and even a Hertz car rental company, are full of dirt. It doesn't look much better inside in the rooms behind the counters. A sad sight when you consider that exactly this heliport was once one of the lifelines of the island of Gozo.

If you stand in the almost deserted terminal and look at the plastic seats in the 90s style and the orphaned counters, you can't quite believe that there used to be flights to Luqa Airport (Malta) several times a day. Yes, even the luggage was checked through. Conversely, vacationers and business travelers from all over the world were able to transfer to a helicopter in Luqa and were on the island of Gozo in no time. The luggage was checked through to the heliport in Xewkija. The flights were never cheap, but before the massive numbers of low-cost airlines and the gradual rise in kerosene prices, it didn't really play such a big role.

It also seems almost unbelievable that today's terminal and the helipads, which are located at both ends of the ultra-short runway, were only opened in 1996. Of course, there was already aviation on the area before, because the history goes back to the 1940s. While the Royal Air Force maintained up to seven RAF bases on the island of Malta, for some inexplicable reason there was not a single one on Gozo. The US Air Force changed this and established the airfield in Ta Lambert. Now it's getting strange: after only six weeks the base was closed again and abandoned. Why is nowhere documented to this day. The legacies were left to decay. One runway fell victim to road construction, the other is theoretically still there, but covered with rubble and now completely overgrown. In 1968 the government decided to breathe new life into Ta Lambert and wanted to convert the area into a civil airfield. Malta-Gozo Air Service has already ordered Islanders for this, but it never happened. After a change of government, the plans were shelved and not pursued.

In 1987, however, the time had come: used Soviet helicopters acquired from Aeroflot, which could carry 25 people, took off regularly between Luqa and Ta Lambert. Everything was still very poor, because a terminal did not even exist until 1996. The flight attendants were initially “borrowed” from Balkan Airlines. Little by little, the service was even expanded to 24/7 and the cooperation with the state-owned Air Malta enabled connections in Luqa. In 1996, today's helipads and the terminal, which are only a few meters away, were built.

On average, around 30.000 to 40.000 passengers per year used the helicopter flights between the two Maltese islands. The all-time high was reached in 1994 with 64.000 travelers. Probably one of the reasons why you might have decided to build the then ultra-modern heliport. 

Low-cost airlines, expensive kerosene, an aging fleet and, on top of that, high prices at Luqa Airport meant that the Malta Air Charter Company, a subsidiary of Air Malta, had to cease operations forever in 2004. The state carrier was then unable to offer any feeder or onward flights from / to Gozo. Hasting the government hired a Spanish company that was in the towel after just half a year. The helicopters used only had eleven seats and insufficient capacity to transport the travelers' luggage. So the chaos was preprogrammed. These helicopter scheduled flights have definitely been over since 2006 and since then the heliport has been bobbing sadly. Allegedly, newer EU directives are said to have had a negative impact on business.

The local Catholic Church last stocked the display case in front of the passenger hall in 2006. A little symbolic of this, like a piece of Maltese aviation history, which was once an important lifeline of Gozo, like a lost place. The technology for handling passengers and baggage is still available, but nobody really knows whether it will still work.

Since at least 1968, many residents of the island of Gozo have been campaigning for their island to have its own airport. You don't want an airport for large jets, for STOL aircraft would be perfectly adequate, because in addition to private planes you want to get back on the international route network from Luqa, but also want to get close to the capital Valletta domestically. The last time it was announced in 2019 that they were considering extending the mini-piste, the plans have disappeared again in the drawer. The reluctance of the agricultural tenants (the entire area of ​​the former air base Ta Lambert belongs to the state) to return their fields is too great and the environmental and landscape protection concerns are too great. So it is not to be expected that there will be any movement on this matter, which has been a simmering and recurring conflict between Gozo and Malta since 1968. The fear that Gozo with a “real airport” could even “fish” tourists on a large scale is likely to be too great on the main island. The state of Malta is very small, but the islands are mountainous and so the onward journey from Luqa to the island of Gozo is a very time-consuming affair by car or public bus and then by ferry. Everyday life for residents of the “smaller Malta island”, but difficult for vacationers. But it is definitely worth it, Gozo has a lot to offer.

Experience impressions from the Gozo Heliport:

So in the end all that remains is the hope that at some point more life will return at the Gozo Heliport, which bears the IATA code GZM. Emblematic of the entire situation: Corona tests are currently being carried out in the parking lot on the site. Parts of the terminal are used as storage rooms and for the medical staff and a helicopter is kept ready on the helipad facing the street as a precautionary measure. It could be that a patient who shows symptoms needs to be rushed to a hospital in Gozo or Malta. Apart from being used for medical purposes, the helipad is only used very rarely. It's been a long time since you were allowed to land there commercially. Private would be possible, but is extremely rare because of the short slope. By the way: The fire brigade on the site is operational, because it is primarily responsible for the surrounding communities and has always looked after the heliport on the side. Corona is not to blame for the Gozo Heliport being a defacto lost place. Rather, the pandemic breathed at least a little bit of life into the sad place of aviation, even if not aeronautically and by no means desired.