[WATCH] Abela straight out of the door and clear of press after SR Technics event

An hour-and-a-half wait by the press was all in vain on Thursday as the Prime Minister makes a dramatic escape

Prime Minister Robert Abela left a crowd of journalists fuming on Thursday evening as he fled the press without leaving a comment.

It’s election season and all the major newsrooms of the island have their resources stretched to the limit in order to offer the maximum coverage possible to the public.

At 4pm on Thursday, newsrooms received an email by the Department of Information (DOI) with news that Prime Minister Robert Abela will be inaugurating a new six-bay hangar facility by SR Technics in Luqa at 5:45pm on the same day.

The €42 million investment inauguration was a lush event, with a sit down dinner organised at the hangar accompanied by a live band and exorbitant light shows.

With this investment, the number of employees at SR Technics will increase to 500 in the next two years. SR Technics has expanded its space with 40,000 square metres in order to carry out repair and maintenance work on six B737 and A320 aircrafts at the same time.

"This state-of-the-art project will be home to hundreds of workers, where they will making a career and delivering excellent customer service. Moreover, this is an investment that represents the commitment to a more innovative country," Abela said.

All the major newsrooms were present, being the first opportunity in days to field questions to the Prime Minister. 

The organisers took their time and the event started later than anticipated, with multiple speakers delivering lengthy speeches before Abela.

Journalists waited an hour and a half until Abela officially inaugurated a new hangar built by SR Technics. Soon after all the journalists gathered together awaiting instructions from OPM personnel, who surprisingly said questions were not possible as SR Technics was not allowing political questions on their property.

During the hour and a half event, no personnel from the OPM approached any member of the press to inform that no questions were to be taken. Seconds later, Abela along with his security made a run for the side door, with journalists rushing off to keep up.

Abela was meant to participate in a PL event in St. Julian’s at 8pm.