From the latest statistics, 665 aircrafts are currently registered in Malta’s Aviation Register. This reflects a 500% growth in a period of ten years.

Malta enacted the Aircraft Registration Act in 2010, which joins other legislative packages in ensuring that Malta continues developing as a premier jurisdiction for international commercial, estate planning and financial activity. Malta’s established reputation as a solid jurisdiction for ship finance, can now be extended also to asset finance in general, as well as aircraft finance in particular. Being a modern and sophisticated law which besides regulating aspects of aircraft registration, ownership, nationality, aircraft mortgages, special privileges and related matters, it introduces innovative concepts with the sole purpose of establishing a more competitive aircraft register.

Malta and was also one of the first EU countries to ratify the Cape Town Convention which allows for the registration of assets on the international register.

This combined with Malta’s flexible taxation framework and corporate legal systems mean that increasing numbers of air transport operations have chosen to base themselves here.