Updated at 12.17am with pilots' union reaction

Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi has warned that another company could be brought in to operate planned Air Malta routes to New York and Toronto, depending on how industrial relations with the national airline’s pilots evolve.

Speaking during the arrival of a new Airbus A320neo plane that has been added to Air Malta’s fleet, Dr Mizzi said the government needed to decide in the coming months whether to operate these routes via Air Malta, or operate them through Malta Med Air or another company in partnership with the national airline. 

The minister said these high-value routes could be operated through narrow-bodied aircraft. 

Dr Mizzi has in the past said that Malta Med Air, which was set up by the government to hive off Air Malta’s lucrative London landing slots, will not become a fully-fledged airline. 

As the deadline looms to sign a new collective agreement with pilots, Dr Mizzi revealed that 12 pilots had called in sick on Saturday. 

 “In comparison with industry benchmarks, these are abnormal levels of sickness”, the minister remarked. 

He said Air Malta had a plane leased on stand-by to continue operating its flights in cases of high sickness levels. 

This is the second time in a week that a significant number of pilots have called in sick, as on Monday 13 pilots reported ill. 

€700,000 early retirement package a redline

Dr Mizzi said the government is ready to sign a new collective agreement with the pilots' union (ALPA), but it will not agree to demands for a guarantee on an early retirement scheme that could net each pilot €700,000. 

Air Malta chairman Charles Mangion had similarly stiff words for the airline’s pilots. 

He said the company needed the full support of its workers, and thanked those pilots who had collaborated during the busy summer months. 

Mr Mangion said these had been a few “unfortunate instances” when such cooperation was not forthcoming from certain pilots. 

He expressed his hope that the airline and pilots could next week sit down and agree on a way forward. 

The Air Malta chairman said the airline was ready to sign the new collective agreement “now”. 

Mr Mangion said the airline could not afford to meet the early retirement requests being made by ALPA. 

He said the company was currently undergoing changes that would allow it to look beyond the Mediterranean and Europe. 

Within 20 months, the airline had already changed one-third of its fleet. 

By 2022, Air Malta’s fleet is planned to consist of new Airbus A320neos. 

'Another set of lies' - Pilots' union

In a statement, ALPA lashed out at the airline’s management saying it seemed intent on “fabricating yet another set of lies”.

“To the best of our knowledge, no formal investigation has been launched in order to corroborate the veracity of the said allegations,” the pilots’ unions said.

Such claims had been made in the past as a cover up intended to mask the actual state of affairs and the gross mismanagement at the higher tiers of the company- ALPA

It noted that “allegations” of pilots reporting sickness and fatigue had already been made by Air Malta’s management in the past. Such claims had been made “as a cover-up intended to mask the actual state of affairs and the gross mismanagement at the higher tiers of the company,” ALPA said.

The union said Air Malta’s mismanagement had reached what it described as unprecedented levels of incompetence which was throwing the national airline into turbulence with its passengers and crew.

It pointed out that in September last year, Air Malta had claimed  there had been a 1,000 per cent increase in crew sickness. ALPA said this was a false claim which had not been proven by any form of evidence whatsoever.

“These allegations were, indeed, solely intended as a cover-up for the incompetence of the select few who were appointed to steer our national airline into the path of self-destruction,” the pilots’ union said.

As for the claim made during Saturday’s news conference, the union said that to the best of its knowledge, no formal investigation had been launched in order to corroborate the veracity of the said allegations.

ALPA urged the airline to treat any such reports with the requisite level of seriousness expected thereof, and to probe the reasons leading to alleged fatigue or ill health by its members.

Correction September 14: Charles Mangion is Air Malta chairman, not CEO.