TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Cordina Steamship and Airline Co. Ltd is a fully licensed Travel Agency which was established in 1947. The Capital of the company is a paid up capital of Lm5,000. The Company is a private limited company fully owned by the Cordina family. There were minor changes in 1960 to bring the company in the line with the Commercial Partnership Ordinance enacted at the time by the Maltese Parliament. The same thing happened during the year 1995 due to the new Companies Act 1995. Out of Cordina Steamship and Airline Co. Ltd, Cordina Insurance Agency Ltd. grew our due to the Insurance Business Act which stipulated that a separate insurance company had to be established.
The board of Directors consists of Mr. Maurice Cordina Borg with Mr. Victor Cordina acting as Secretary to the Company.
The late Mr. Albino Cording Borg started the business in 1930 concentrating on Import and Export. Shipping, Insurance and Travel became the main business since 1947.
Mr. Maurice Cordina Borg started in the Travel Business in 1952. To day he is the Managing Director of the company.
Mr. Victor Cordina started work in the business in 1965. Mr. V. Cordina was one of the two, first Maltese candidates successful in the first Examination held in Malta by IATA and UFTA for the diploma in Passenger Agents Professional Training Course.
Both Mr. M.
Cordina Borg and Mr. V. Cordina attended courses at the Malta College of Arts
Science and Technology in Business Studies and various courses abroad connected
with the Travel and Insurance Business.
Cordina S/S
& A/L Co. Ltd. is a member of the following main Trade Associations:
IATA - International Air Transport Association-Geneva
FATA - Federation of Associations of Travel Agents - Malta
MIATA - Malta IATA Agents Association.
Cordina Insurance Agency Ltd is a member of the following main Trade Associations:
MIA - Malta Insurance Association
The Association of Insurance Companies in Malta
Cordina Steamship and Airline Co. Ltd., saw its beginning when just after the war Mr. Albino Cordina Borg decided that private enterprise was more his line of life.
His first
business venture was the opening of a Business Office and Agency at Paulino
Vassallo Square at Cospicua in 1930 and thereafter with the establishment
of a General Store at his residence in Paola Square Paola and St Paul’s
Street, Valletta. His
interest in Travel began in Paola in 1943 under the name of Cordina Steamship
Company Ltd. In 1947 in
partnership with the late Mr. V. Sciberras and Chev Joseph Calleja, he
established the company under the name of Cordina Steamship and Airline Co.
(Malta) Ltd. They opened at
Valletta their first office at 41, Kingsway (at that time).
This office consisted of a room on the third floor in the principal
street of the Capital City.
At the time there were numerous enquiries at the office from would be emigrants seeking passage to Australia, Canada, USA and UK. Slowly but steadily the business expended in those early dates of mass emigration. But it was never enough for the enterprising Albino Cordina Both. Possessing unbelievable persuasive ability, he succeeded in cajoling Sivewright Airways, Dan Air - Silver City Airways to transit Malta. The Handling of airlines in those early days of Civil Aviation was still a novice idea in Malta. At the same time he introduced the first airfreight delivery service on the island.
As years
advance Albino Cordina Borg bought the shares in the company and become the sole
proprietor of the Company and introduced other partners and helpers - his family
and now a day the third generation of the family are working in the business.
The business still retains much of the family atmosphere and most of the
clients are still served by the Cordina family personally.
In 1964 the office moved to 146 St. Lucia Street Valletta. In 1974 due to the limited space in their office, the Head Office was moved to their present situation - Kingsway Palace at 55 Republic Street, where the company could expand further and could install modern machinery such as computers to meet today needs.
Cordina Steamship and Airline Co. Ltd also handles Air Freight, Shipping and Forwarding, and Acts as Handling agents for Tour Operators sending tourists to Malta.
Mr. Albino Cordina Borg near a Sivewright Airways plane.
(Left) Mr. Albino Cordina Borg, in front of a Sivewright Airways aeroplane.
