Malta Files

Malta President George Vella spent over €30,000 on a private jet to fly to the UK for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. In September 2022, Politico revealed that world leaders had been asked to arrive in the UK on commercial flights.

Other expenses for the trip included:

• Hotel accommodation at the Corinthia in London for around another €30,000
• Air Malta flights from the UK to Malta for over €6,000
• Travel insurance from Mib for €275

MaltaFiles is publishing invoices which show that the expenses related to the 4-day trip amounted to at least around €60,000. They can be downloaded below.

Invoices issued by dBB Aviation show that Vella flew on a Challenger 605 from Malta to Farnborough airport on the 17^th of September in time for the state funeral on the 19^th.

Farnborough Airport says it offers the ultimate in private aviation where discreet ambience and exemplary service are combined with bespoke amenities and state of the art services for passengers, crew and aircraft.

dBB Aviation classes its Challenger 605 as a heavy jet with seating up to 15 passengers with a full size galley for “a truly luxurious experience”.

London’s Corinthia invoiced Vella for a stay between the 16^th of September 2022 and the 29^th of September 2022.

However, Malta’s public broadcaster TVM said Vella departed Malta on the 17^th and was expected to be back in Malta on Tuesday the 20^th of September. Malta Government Gazzette 20,929 also states that Vella resumed the functions of his office on the 20^th.

Questions sent to the Office of the President of the Republic of Malta

MaltaFiles sent questions to the Office of the President about this visit but didn’t receive a reply at the time of publication of the article. The questions asked were why President Vella flew via a private plane instead of choosing a commercial flight and why the hotel invoice covered a stay until the 29^th of September when Vella had already returned to Malta by the 20^th of September.

Originally, around 18 Air Malta tickets from London Heathrow to Malta International Airport were purchased for the cost of around €8,500.  Of these around 5 were cancelled and a refund of about €2,000 was issued.

Update 02/04/2024

Within 24 hours of the story being published, Maltese national media picked up the news and ran their own stories about the MaltaFiles invoices. Newsbook for instance ran a story both in English and in Maltese.

Later on at 15:15 Malta time, Office of the President Communications Secretary Jessica Sultana replied to the questions MaltaFiles had sent to the office before revealing the invoices publicly. Her reply is being quoted in full:

1. It is confirmed that The President of Malta and accompanying delegation stayed at Corinthia London between 17 September 2022 and 20 September 2022 respectively and the Invoice billing details have been certified correct per individual occupant with the daily room rate tallying with the quoted room rate and for the afore-mentioned dates. It is however an error on the part of Corinthia London to quote Arrival on 16 September 2022 and departure on 29 September 2022.
   
2. On 17th September 2022, The President of Malta travelled with a private jet on the outbound to London to attend HM Queen Elizabeth’s funeral as direct flights were full-up and the available connection flights were not a valid option to allow The President to arrive in time to be able to attend the funeral. With regards to the inbound flight from London, The President of Malta returned to Malta with an AirMalta flight on 20th September 2022.

MaltaFiles note: Without going into the merits of the Office’s reply, MaltaFiles notes that the invoice error by the Corinthia means that the €30,000 hotel bill then actually only covers 3 nights and not 13. Resulting in a €10,000 per night price tag. There are usually around 5 direct flights between Malta and London daily.