MGSA

Fly Emirates. Fly Better.​

The first flight of Emirates into Malta was captured by Maltese aviation researcher John Visanich in this historical shot taken on 30th March 1998. Flight EK207 from Dubai had an all Maltese cockpit crew with Captain Paul Azzopardi and First Officer Cliff Chetcuti at the controls. The return flight was operated by Captain Cees van Dorren and First Officer Ian Chetcuti (brother of Cliff Chetcuti). Cliff Chetcuti would rise through the ranks and be appointed as CEO of Air Malta in September 2018. He resigned from the post in August of 2020. The first flight was operated by an Airbus A300B4-605R registered A6-EKO. This airframe would be written off in 2012 when registered TC-OAG while operated by Onur Air on behalf of Saudi Arabian Airlines.

Special thanks to aviation historian John Visanich for his input and photo.

Enemed MAviO Conference & Awards: Monday, 8th May 2023 at Salini Resort. Malta’s longest running and most respected aviation meetup. Visit https://conference.mavio.org/ for more details.

Enemed Emirates Paul Fleri Soler John Visanich