Two French registered Super Pumas have arrived in Malta, apparently “escaping” the crisis in Libya where they have been based at Tripoli International Airport since July 2005.  The pair are both operated by Heli Union.  The Times Of Malta is reporting that their departure from Libya was so hurried that only one passenger of seven on the two helicopters was carrying a passport. Immigration police are holding them at the airport while checking the identities of the passengers, who claim they are French.

The two Super Pumas are F-GHOU (msn 9005) and F-GYSH (msn 9006) .  Heli Union has a 75% owned subsidiary in Libya called Ittihad Amoudi, which is believed to operate on offshore drilling support

Two Libyan Mirage jets also arrived in Malta this afternoon.  The Al-Jazeerah network is stating that they were tasked to target protestors, but when the pilots saw other aircraft firing at protestors they went low level and turned for Malta and on contacting ATC there, declared low on fuel and landed

Libya has long had affiliations with Malta, due in no small part to its geographical proximity.  The Maltese Armed Forces received at least one JetRanger and three Alouette IIIs from the north African country.