'Show Me The Money!': The Difficulty In Enforcing Payment In Aviation

Debt Collection in the Maltese Legal System

Where aviation-related claims for payment fall on deaf ears, and creditors are faced with intransigent debtors, Maltese law envisages a number of methods by means of which debts can be recovered forcibly in cases of debt recovery from aircrafts in Malta.

Where debts are uncontested and of an amount which is already established ('certain, liquidated, and due'), the law allows creditors two expedient ways of debt-collection:

1. Where the debt is under €25,000, the creditor can serve the debtor with a judicial letter in terms of Article 166A of the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure, which if uncontested within 30 days of receipt, will have the same effect as a judgement in the creditor's favour;