Secret side agreements signed by the government and Air Malta staff have left the national airline grounded and unable to take off, the PN said on Tuesday.
Speaking on Tuesday PN employment spokesperson Ivan Castillo and economy spokesperson Ivan J Bartolo, relayed the message that Air Malta is a strategic national asset that must be saved.
“Air Malta not only employs many individuals but also is key for tourism, and foreign direct investment,” Bartolo said.
However secret side agreements made by the Labour government are a spanner in the wheel that is Air Malta’s recovery, the PN said.
“We do not want Air Malta to turn into a political game,” Bartolo said, however, the Labour party needs to stop blaming the Nationalist Party’s time in government and get working on an efficient re-structuring of the wayward airline.
Bartolo asked how Finance Minister Clyde Caruana’s restructuring plans, sent to the EU some time ago, have been received.
Castillo went a step further, questioning whether any plan for saving Air Malta exists at all. “We are still waiting to see the plan and our suspicion is that he doesn't have one,” he said.
The PN spokesperson said that secret side agreements have made the task of saving the national airline far more difficult.
Castillo highlighted one agreement signed in 2018 between the pilots’ union and then Air Malta minister Konrad Mizzi, guaranteeing pilots a job with the same take-home pay.
As a result, an attempt to lay off most of Air Malta's pilots by Economy Minister Silvio Schembri in 2020 led to an ongoing court case.
Another, similar agreement by ex-Air Malta minister Edward Zammit Lewis had eventually caused havoc when the government tried, years later, to transfer hundreds of airline ground staff, he added.
Most of Air Malta's 350 ground handling staff were due to be transferred to public sector jobs over a six-month period starting last February. But most remain in limbo, Castillo said.
Only around half have been called for interviews, and those that had faced issues because their Air Malta salary was just too high for other government jobs, Castillo said. Only 20 individuals have so far left the airline, he said.
He repeated several times that Air Malta workers were right in looking out for their interests and left the blame squarely on the government’s doorstep.
The PN has called for Finance and Air Malta minister Clyde Caruana to publish all Air Malta secret agreements.
Both PN spokespersons appealed to the Labour government to do whatever it can to revive the national airline.