Air Malta explains properties vacation

Air Malta said yesterday that in line with its re-alignment towards its core business operations, it was divesting itself of the three hotels, including Hal-Ferh, owned by the Air Malta Group.

The airline was reacting to the item which appeared in The Times yesterday saying that a number of farmers who have been tilling tracts of land adjacent to the Hal-Ferh holiday complex at Ghajn Tuffieha for over 30 years have been upset by a letter from Air Malta informing them they have to vacate their fields by October.

Air Malta said that as Hal-Ferh will be sold as a company all its assets, including the land owned by it, will be transferred with the sale of the company.

"In view of this Air Malta is presently carrying out all the legal and commercial preparations to be in a position to conduct this sale as part of its restructuring plan. "Among these preparations are the vacation of a number of properties, one of which has a regular lease which expires on September 30, while the others are occupied by squatters," the national carrier said.