Air Malta staff unions are insisting that the fleet reduction plan announced by the airline last week will not work.

They called upon the airline’s management to explain how the same routes could be operated and the same number of passengers carried with fewer planes.

Times of Malta also learnt that the national airline has informed the Union of Cabin Crew it would not renew the employment contracts of about 50 temporary flight attendants come November.

Air Malta last week confirmed what was reported by The Sunday Times of Malta in May: that it would be cutting its fleet by 30 per cent. Following a meeting with the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, the airline said it would operate seven aircraft in winter and eight in summer.

Read more in the Times of Malta.