Without giving in-depth details, Air Malta Chairman David Curmi announced on Tuesday that unprofitable routes would be canceled. The wage costs should also be reduced in order to be able to keep the state carrier afloat financially.

The head of the company also said that the airline's corona crisis had taken off its pants financially. In the next few months it will be very difficult to make ends meet. Only eight routes are currently served anyway and those that are not profitable are to be canceled. Even in the event of a planned expansion of the flight offer, the weaker routes should no longer be reactivated.

Curmi will initially concentrate Air Malta on “core destinations”. However, he did not say which destinations these are and also gave no indication of which destinations will fall victim to the red pen. Generally speaking, the manager has only given his cards a minimalist look. This is at least an indication that many decisions have not yet been made. A spokeswoman for the company said afterwards that the focus will be on Italy, Germany, France and the UK in the near future.

Wages could be cut again

Air Malta cut staff salaries a few months ago. Flight attendants and pilots were primarily affected. Now Curmi wants to reduce costs in this area again. Originally, they would have spent 50 million euros per year in this area. That would be far too much and we need competitive wages as soon as possible. Of course, he did not say how the chairman of the national airline will implement this. He also did not respond to whether there would be further cuts in salaries or not.

Another cost item that David Curmi addressed in a virtual press conference is the leasing fees for the Airbus fleet. Too high in his opinion. He put the average cost per machine at 10 million euros, thus 80 million euros per year for the fleet of eight machines. Here you want to negotiate with the lessors and, in particular, talk again about the leasing rates even if machines have not yet been taken over. Curmi sees great potential for savings.

Tourism minister announces Comback strategy

The airline Air Malta is under the responsibility of the new Minister of Tourism, Clayton Bartolo. He also emphasized that the carrier must fly back into the profit zone as soon as possible. Regarding the tourism comeback, the government member said, “Our goal is to be back in business as soon as possible, but we don't want to make similar mistakes that have happened in the past. We have constant discussions with health experts about measures to keep the industry going ”.

The ministry plans to present a “reactive strategy” shortly. This should include the goals and measures for restarting tourism. The minister did not say it explicitly, but it is common knowledge that income from tourism is a mainstay for Malta.