A total of 493 applications have been received by Air Malta for its voluntary employee transfer scheme, with 600 expected to be received by Friday's deadline, sources close to the airline have confirmed.

The Air Malta scheme was meant to close last week but employees were informed by the company that the deadline had been extended to February 11.

They were not given a reason but sources said this was because intensive talks with the six unions representing all the airline’s employees were still under way.

Applications began to trickle in last week after the talks with all the unions had been concluded and all issues ironed out.

Sources said the company was offering employees a job in the public sector with the same conditions and take-home pay they enjoyed with the airline.

Last month, the government announced plans for Air Malta to slash the number of employees on its books from 890 to 420-430.

The move is intended to save the airline €15 million a year.

The airline was aiming to see around 110-120 transferred out of the company’s administration to other government sectors. Another 300 are expected to be transferred from the airline’s baggage handing operations, which it plans to close completely.

In an interview on Sunday, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana confirmed that employees were being guaranteed a job until they reached retirement age but did not close the door on transferring some of the workers to the private sector if there were vacancies there.

“This is not something the workers brought upon themselves so it is only fair they do not have to pay for the consequences,” he said.

“Workers will be offered alternative employment in the public sector, however, they can be shifted to the private sector. It’s still on the cards if there are vacancies.”

Caruana admitted the airline was used as a “political tool” for far too long and that the time was ripe to start taking decisions that made commercial sense.

He refused to be drawn into pointing fingers at those responsible for the “prolonged bad management” which persisted over the years but was confident that the latest plans would ensure that the airline continues to fly.

GWU head Josef Bugeja told Times of Malta last month that the union, which represents the bulk of the airline’s staff, had been reassured that workers’ salaries and their respective conditions would not be affected in any way by the transfer.