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Air Malta has been by any calculation a success story. It was traditionally self-financing without the need to resort to Government subsidy.
This success risks fading into nothing unless urgent action is taken.
It is time for both management and the unions to carry on meeting and ironing out a deal which guarantees the long time survival of this airline which is a crucial cog in the local tourist infrastructure.
The agreement must be an arrangement which recognises past commercial mistakes and excessive benefits. It must also reflect today’s realities.
Air Malta today, post 11/9, is operating under a totally new reality. All airlines, with the exception of air Malta, immediately made their operations leaner, fully cognisant that this was necessary in view of the envisaged drop in travelling numbers as a result of the September 11 tragedy.
Accordingly and swiftly the present Minister with responsibility for Air Malta, took the bull by the horns, recognised what immediately needed to be done and set about meeting the four different unions represented at Air Malta with the intention of agreeing to a corporate rescue plan for the airline.
The ministerial battle cry is change or die. The message is clear many a work practice which were introduced outside the collective agreement and by a management team which believed that past profits were guaranteed to carry on, need to be trimmed or done away with completely.
Intelligently, this cost cutting was to be done across the board affecting all ranks from the uppermost echelons of the company including the salary of the chairman to the least ranking down the corporate ladder. This is leadership by example.
This exemplary behaviour needs however to have further credibility, to recognise and acknowledge that many of the bad business decisions and the tendency to overspend took place during the administration of this Government of which the present Minister was also a member of and for which he too must carry a collective sense of responsibility.
We take note of Dr Austin Gatt’s political boldness to criticise past financial shortcomings especially the lack of foresight to fully recognise the turbulent effects of September the eleventh, the all too detached attitude of the former minister Josef Bonnici from not only the day to day operation but also the broader performance of the company.
We fear that the previous minister may have been misled by the previous chairman or perhaps their apparent friendship led to his turning the nelson’s eye to the operation.
The present Government must look into the dire effects on the financial stability of the company the Avro purchases and the setting up of the Azzura Air operation had.
Were these decisions dictated by the vision for creating a hub concept which did not materialise?
If, so in the normal course of business operations, a business decision gone sour? Or was it a question of an ill-thought out decisions which put a further strain on the company’s operations? Only an independent inquiry can shed further light on this.
We advise the Minister to set this up in accordance with Government’s professed belief in the value of corporate accountability and transparency.
We would equally urge the unions to accept the cost cutting being proposed. It is not only necessary but the only way to guarantee the jobs of their members.
If this rescue plan is not implemented the airline will be grounded within the next two years.
This is certainly a situation we do not want to see happening.
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