Profile: Professional Career
back to About Louis
Air Malta Group
Louis Grech stands near the engine of a brand-new aircraft delivered to Air Malta when he was Chairman
In 1973 Louis Grech was one of the first pioneers in the setting up and formation of the national flag carrier Air Malta. Initially, he was responsible for Administration, organisational strategy, Personnel and industrial relations, as well as being Corporate Secretary of the Company.
- In 1979 he was appointed General Manager.
- In 1985 he was appointed Managing Director and CEO of the national airline.
- In 1997 he was appointed CEO of Air Malta, where he oversaw an increase in traffic to 1.8m passengers, and Chairman of Air Malta, which was one of the biggest companies in Malta with an international dimension. The Group had interests in Aviation and Tourism, employed around 2,500 workers, generated a turnover of approximately €293.5m, and was responsible for around 5.3% of Government revenue and 5.5% equivalent jobs in the country.
Ancillary Sectors
Louis Grech extended the activities of the Group and created other ancillary ones in various sectors:
Hotels: |
|
Tour Operations: |
|
Tourist Handling: |
|
Air Service to Gozo: |
|
Insurance: |
|
Duty Free: |
|
Hotels Management: |
|
LHT: |
One of Louis Grech’s major achievements was to attract Lufthansa Technik to Malta and convince the German enterprise to enter into a joint venture with Air Malta, which led to a foreign investment which is still growing. He was appointed by the Shareholders of Lufthansa Technik as well as those of Air Malta as the first Chairman of Lufthansa Technik (Malta).  Louis Grech and a high official of Lufthansa Technik sign the agreement in the presence of Prime Minister Dr Eddie Fenech Adami and Minister for Economic Services Josef Bonnici. |
Other Activities
A portrait of Louis Grech reproduced on the front page of the magazine Malta Bankers
- Director, Central Bank of Malta
- Director, Bank of Valletta
- Director, Middle Sea Insurance
- Director, Middle Sea Investment
- Director, Medavia Co Ltd
- Director, Malta International Airport
- Director, Dragonara Casino
- Director, various private companies
- Founder Trustee, Foundation for International Studies
- Occasional Lecturer, University of Malta
- Member, Industrial Tribunal, representing the Unions
- Member, Malta Institute of Management
Between 1992 and 1996, Louis Grech provided consultancy in various sectors ranging from industrial relations, through tourism, manufacturing, and financing to marketing.
Other Activities
He was active in international meetings concerning Aviation, Tourism, and the Economy, where he worked and in favour of, and often started initiatives in respect of, small airlines. Main speaker in various local and international meetings and seminars.
Honours
Louis Grech receives the Tourism Personality of the Year 2002 award from the President of Skål International Malta, Mr Joe Borg Olivier
In 2002 he was awarded the “Tourism Personality of the Year” prize by Skål Club (Malta) in recognition of his role as a leading captain in the aviation and tourism sectors.
In 2007 the European League of Geneva voted him as the best Maltese Member of the European Parliament for the year 2006, on the basis of the type of work he had undertaken in the Parliament and the quality of his work in the interests of his country of origin.
In 1997 he was appointed Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society of the United Kingdom.
