Expensive dodos

Four Avro RJ 70s bought for $100 million just over 10 years ago are currently parked at Exeter airport in England. Air Malta is trying to find a buyer for these aircraft. The prospects are not good. It is going to be very difficult to find a buyer and much more difficult to get a decent price for these planes.

The Avro RJ 70s are considered orphan aircraft. Their production was stopped in 2001. Analysts expect the market for this aircraft to continue to deteriorate and they will be sold at severely reduced prices. Few operators are interested in this kind of aircraft as there are only a handful of economic route applications for it. Maintenance costs outweigh any operational benefit.

Air Malta bought the RJ 70s just over 10 years ago. Chairman J.N. Tabone had been ecstatic at the time and boasted that Air Malta was going to pay cash on delivery. He had said that the acquisition of this aircraft opened a new exciting chapter for Air Malta and enabled it to become a regional hub in the Mediterranean. The RJ 70s were described as guaranteeing a bright future for Air Malta and its employees.

Ten years later Mr Tabone's words ring so hollow as the future of Air Malta and its employees hangs in the balance. The Nationalist government had supported his decision to buy the RJ 70s. It was a very bad, expensive decision and a harmful one for the company and its employees. Those who took the decision have been let off without having to answer for their wrong decisions.

Last December Minister Austin Gatt criticised several Air Mata employees for earning a few thousand liri but was eloquently silent on the millions of liri squandered on buying the RJ 70s. It is very brave and courageous to bully small guys and let off persons like Mr Tabone who form part of a small powerful network at the heart of the Nationalist Party!

They spend - you pay the bill

Why did Air Malta make such a bad buy 10 years ago? Only 12 RJ 70s were built and Air Malta bought one-third of them. Is it true that Air Malta bought them to operate a fixed-wing service between Malta and Gozo and is that why the Nationalist government of the time had planned to build an airstrip in Gozo? Were the RJ 70s chosen to get the UK Conservative government's support for the Nationalist government's bid for Malta's European Union membership?

The Conservative government originally created the Avro RJ project in the 1970s. The Labour government shelved it in 1977 as part of its cost-cutting initiatives to reduce the deficit. The Conservative government in 1979 then revived it. Production started in the early Nineties and stopped 10 years later as there were not enough buyers to make it viable.

Whatever the reasons for buying the RJ 70s, Air Malta and its employees now have to pay the price. The purchase of the RJ 70s is one in a series of very expensive decisions taken over the years by Government and other public companies which have cost the country millions of liri. Those who took the decisions have not paid the bill and have not been made to answer for their deeds. The middle and working class are now paying the bill.

Reckless decisions have pushed up public expenditure and made the structural deficit and public debt unsustainable. We are spending more money servicing public debt than investing in primary and secondary education. We are now told that our public health service is not viable and that our welfare system is too generous. Rising taxes and stiff government-induced costs are hurting families and businesses.

As we suffer the consequences of harmful decisions by Government and public companies, there is no effective system of public accountability to ensure that public decision-makers have to answer for their deeds. Incompetent and corrupt public decision-makers are still getting away with murder. Most of the local media serve to protect rather than to scrutinise them.

The country cannot face the tough challenges ahead and our quality of life cannot be improved without good and effective policy-making and good governance. Ultimately, in a democratic system like ours, where people choose not only the party but also the person they want in office, the country gets the government it deserves. It is up to honest and hardworking citizens to deliver this country from corrupt and incompetent public decision-makers.