Rob Horgan
POLITICIANS, gaming bosses and businessmen are campaigning to introduce flights from southern Spain to Malta.
More than 500 people have already signed a change.org petition which claims hundreds of work hours are lost every month as workers travel from Malaga and Gibraltar to Malta.
There is currently no direct flight from Malaga or Gibraltar to Malta, despite thousands of workers – mainly in gaming – making the commute every month.
Set up by Irish expat Oisin McGillicuddy, the petition has garnered the support of ‘a number of Gibraltar politicians’, gaming bosses both sides of the border and the CEO of Malta airport.
Others supporting the bid are the CEO of Gaming Innovation Group and the boss at venture capitalist firm Optimizer Invest.
“The support has been amazing, but I am not surprised,” 39-year-old McGillicuddy, who lives in Fuengirola, told the Olive Press. “Travelling to Malta is currently a massive expense and is enormously inconvenient.
“Sometimes the layover in Barcelona, Brussels or Paris can be as long as 11 hours.”
He added: “It is crazy that a flight has never been put on from Gibraltar or Malaga to Malta before now.”
The petition titled ‘Schedule direct flights from Malaga and/or Gibraltar to Malta’ is addressed to Norwegian Air.
It is also being actively directed at other low-cost airlines including Ryanair, Vueling and Transavia.
So many of us have to do the inconvenient double flight trip to Malta and back which are ridiculously time consuming. I think this connection would be very popular!
As there are also many many gibraltarians and probably people in the surrounding area with Maltese ancestry I am sure it could be viable during certain months. Thursday Sunday and Tuesday flights would suit people going on holiday and those on business. Could maybe make the plane a smaller one? Hope this doesn’t signal the gaming companies doing a bunk though.
Re: Bluemoon, regarding the “gaming companies doing a bunk”, quite the opposite, the reason this flight link is so necessary is the growth of the gaming companies in Gibraltar, Malta and Marbella/Malaga area. Any Google search regarding gaming will show you that Gibraltar is going from strength to strength, year on year, Malta gaming is booming and Marbella is an ideal secondary location for business with Malaga airport a central location for the whole of southern Spain/Gibraltar. Fear not, it’s a sign of growth!
When did gambling become “gaming”? Could the real word be a bit seedy?
Stefanjo, the definition of the word seedy is “sordid and disreputable”, involving synonyms such as “sleazy, corrupt, shameful, dark, squalid, rough, mean, nasty” etc. These do not define our industry, nor do they define the National Lottery, Ascott or even a bet with your mates. I find your comment disrespectful, offensive and off-topic, but thanks for taking part anyway :)
Oisin, tough. But I stand by my word and thank you for supplying so many descriptive words from your mighty thesaurus, all of which accurately describe the seedy pastime of gambling in all it’s forms
The Lottery? The Fool’s Tax. Ascot? Big daft hats on over-privileged toffs.
Noticeable that you also avoid the word “gambling” but have the nerve to describe your chosen chiseling as an “industry”. An industry makes things. Your game just takes money from the gullible, creating only empty wallets.
I agree Stefano gambling is a word that implies luck or chance, but after working for 10 yrs in the gaming industry I can say gaming is the word now as its a business designed to make as much money with little regard for fair play or luck. Online bingo tried to clean up the business but with more and more sophisticated systems running the show its now a fool that plays online expecting it to be fair and above board!
Quite correct, indeed there is much discussion on “gaming versus gambling”. Just look to see: “https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=gaming+or+gambling”
Gaming is the wrong term, purely because gaming is mostly concerned with video and mobile games, multiplayer games and the like. Gambling is a different beast and the gambling industry should stop trying to hide their real activity.
Unlike Britain itself most of the gaming and insurance companies in Gibraltar made detailed plans to move to Malta in the event of a ‘brexit’ so its very likely to be a popular service but probably not long lived!
Exactly my worry. knock on effects on apartment prices/rental values and ultimately taxation of any large migration away by the gaming companies will be hard to recover elsewhere. However I guess Gib would have to contract back in size and the over-inflated rents and apartment prices would settle at a more normal level. Shame as I have just become an owner recently but hey ho.