Former tourism minister Konrad Mizzi has defended his work at Air Malta, pointing to the two ministers who came after him when asked if he felt he should shoulder responsibility for the current state of the airline.
In separate comments, Edward Zammit Lewis, who was responsible for the national airline before Mizzi, said he backed the current government plan for Air Malta.
The government announced last week that it would be halving the airline’s workforce in a last-ditch attempt to save the struggling airline, from 890 staff to just 420.
Mizzi served as tourism minister for two years between 2017 and 2019 before resigning amid political turmoil over revelations linked to the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
While minister, he had repeatedly said Air Malta would soon be brought back on its feet. He repeated the claim in parliament just weeks before stepping down, in October 2019. In March that year, Mizzi had announced that the airline had made a turnaround and registered a profit for the first time in several years.
Asked on Wednesday whether he would shoulder responsibility for the airline’s current state, Mizzi was quick to point out there have been two different ministers since he stepped down.
“I haven’t been minister [since 2019]… there were two other ministers after me. There was also COVID and other situations,” Mizzi told Times of Malta.
Mizzi also said that under his watch, Air Malta made “an operation break even for the first time in history” and went on to dismiss the suggestion that this was because the airline’s main assets were sold off.
He also said the airline would be halving its workforce not because there were “extra” employees but because it no longer needed to carry out its own ground handling operations.
According to the government, of those being laid off, some 300 will come from ground handling operations while the remaining 110 will be administrative staff.
Before Air Malta was handed to Mizzi, Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis, then tourism minister, was politically responsible for the airline.
After Mizzi stepped down, Economy Minister Silvio Schembri was appointed minister for Air Malta before Finance Minister Clyde Caruana took over the portfolio following a cabinet reshuffle.
Asked whether he too should shoulder responsibility for the airline's financial situation, Zammit Lewis told Times of Malta: "The Finance Minister said that there were decisions that had to be taken for several years and were being taken now.
"There is another attempt to save Air Malta. I back the government's plans. The government has been trying to save Air Malta since 2013. Whatever the Nationalist Party says, we found an airline which was in a very bad condition."