Gudja must not become the airport’s overflow

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Robert Abela officially launched the East Expansion Project at Malta International Airport. He described it as a key investment in quality, resilience, and long-term infrastructure. The airport, he said, is often the first and last impression visitors have of Malta. Shortly after, Opposition Leader Alex Borg visited too. He praised MIA's strong and continuous investment and called on the government to match it with better national infrastructure so that tourists get the best possible experience.

Two leaders in two different visits, but neither one of them mentioned Gudja or residents living nearby.

Gudja sits closer to the airport than any other village in Malta. Its residents live with the daily reality of what it means to be neighbours with a facility that saw over ten million passenger movements last year, a figure expected to rise again this year. More than 65,000 aircraft movements were recorded in 2025. Each one of those is felt in Gudja.

This is not a new problem, but it is a growing one. The airport is in the middle of a €345 million investment programme, its largest since privatisation. For Malta as a whole, this is broadly positive as connectivity matters for an island economy. But for the people who live in Gudja, every expansion raises the same unanswered question: what about us?

For years, people flying out for days or weeks have left their cars on Gudja's residential streets. A Local Council bylaw has helped, but it should not fall to a Local Council to manage the consequences of a national infrastructure hub. This summer, the airport itself advised travellers to consider alternatives to driving, proof that the problem has outgrown local solutions.

Less visible, but equally important, is what is happening to the village's character. Gudja is increasingly becoming an airport suburb. Businesses that serve tourism, or that simply need to be near the airport, are setting up in the village. In one case, an operation that had been kicked out of the airport’s property, ended up relocating to Gudja instead. The result is a gradual commercialisation of a small residential community, that changes what a village looks and feels like to the people who live in it. Services designed for the airport should remain on airport premises, not be displaced into surrounding residential streets.

This is not about being against the airport. Nobody in Gudja is calling for fewer flights or less quality tourism. The airport is vital infrastructure and residents understand that. What they are asking for is for the impact on their village to be recognised. They want to be consulted when decisions are made that affect their streets, their air quality, and their daily routines. They want planning decisions in Gudja to reflect the needs of a residential community, not the convenience of an expanding airport.

Momentum has consistently taken the side of residents when communities are asked to bear the cost of decisions made over their heads. In Pembroke, we opposed the use of virgin public land for a football campus because residents had already absorbed more than their fair share of development. The same principle applies in Gudja. When national infrastructure expands, the people living beside it deserve a voice in how that expansion is managed.

Other countries take this seriously. Airport authorities elsewhere in Europe invest in noise insulation for nearby homes, fund community programmes, and conduct regular environmental impact assessments that genuinely include local residents. These are standard practices in well-governed aviation markets, but Malta has yet to catch up.

The health effects of living beside a busy airport are well documented internationally. Noise exposure, air quality concerns, and sleep disruption, are all public health considerations. Treating environmental protection and residents' wellbeing as inseparable, rather than as obstacles to growth, would be a meaningful shift in how we approach these issues.

The Prime Minister spoke about the airport reflecting how Malta presents itself to the world, while the Leader of the Opposition spoke about giving tourists a better experience. While both are valid points, somewhere between the speeches and the guided tours, it would be worth hearing from the people who live just beyond the terminal. Their story is part of the airport's story too.