Malta

Air Malta (1974-2024) · KM Malta Airlines (current flag carrier)

Kalafrana Seaplane Base — Kalafrana (1916): Authorized January 1916, opened July 1916 -- a seaplane base rather than a land airfield. · backtonormandy.org ↗

Hal Far Airfield — Hal Far (1923): Opened 16 January 1923, first official flight 19 February 1924; became an RAF station on 19 March 1929. Described by one source as 'the first [airfield] to be built on Malta,' though that claim overlooks the earlier Kalafrana seaplane base. · backtonormandy.org ↗

Malta International Airport (Luqa) — Luqa (1940): The site became RAF Station Luqa on 1 April 1940; civil terminal inaugurated 31 March 1958; current terminal built February 1992. Today's Malta International Airport. · MLA ↗ · Wikipedia ↗

Three genuinely distinct claims depending on definition: oldest aviation site overall = Kalafrana seaplane base (1916, defunct); oldest land airfield = Hal Far (1923, defunct); oldest airport still operating = Malta International Airport at Luqa (RAF station from 1940, civil terminal from 1958).

Air Malta (1973): Air Malta Co. Ltd founded 31 March 1973; began operating its own equipment 1 April 1974 (BEA ran Malta's services under contract before that). Ceased operations 30 March 2024 (closure announced 2 October 2023, after the EU Commission rejected a EUR290m state-aid request on 18 April 2023). KM Malta Airlines, incorporated 2 October 2023, began operations 31 March 2024 -- the day after Air Malta stopped flying -- retaining the same IATA code (KM), with ICAO changed to KMM. Wikipedia explicitly describes KM Malta Airlines as 'a new company'/'new flag carrier,' not a stated legal successor, though there is real operational continuity: all 8 A320-family aircraft transferred, around 390 staff absorbed, and the final Air Malta livery design (including the Maltese Cross) reused. The Air Malta brand name itself was not transferred -- it is held by government-owned IP Holdings and was to be tendered separately. No earlier Maltese airline predating Air Malta was identified. · KM ↗ · Wikipedia ↗

Aviation Services SpA (Italy), 2022: On 24 November 2022, Air Malta's entire in-house ground-handling operation was taken over by a newly formed company, Aviation Services Handling Ltd, a joint venture with Aviation Services SpA (a private ground-handling operator based in Rome, Italy), which holds a 60% majority stake. The new company initially handled only Air Malta's own flights plus Turkish Airlines and ITA (Alitalia's successor). Confidence is tentative-to-confirmed for the 2022 fact itself but not confirmed as literally "first": an older, unresolved lead exists (Aviaserve, Malta's other certified handler, was previously named "GlobeGround Malta" — GlobeGround was originally Lufthansa's German ground-handling subsidiary, sold 51% to France's Penauille Polyservices in 2001) but whether GlobeGround Malta itself was foreign-equity-owned, or merely licensed the brand, and its exact founding year, could not be confirmed this session. (best-documented candidate found — not source-confirmed as literally first.) · The Shift News ↗