Did Malta have enough margin for 1980s aircraft?

Did the Malta design have enough freeboard and growth margin to operate modern aircraft into the 1980s?

He argues yes: its displacement margin, large hangars, and adaptable lift arrangement could have supported modernization into the 1990s.

The case for long-term modernization rests on the gap between standard and deep displacement, the large hangars, and the ability to remove obsolete centerline lifts after adopting deck-edge lifts. The ships could plausibly have accommodated modernization into the 1990s, although later aircraft would eventually have imposed limits.