The State Social Court of North Rhine-Westphalia ruled that the German bases of Malta Air are to be regarded as independent operations. This preliminary decision may be of great importance in the dispute over short-time work benefits.

A legal dispute has been smoldering between the Federal Employment Agency and the Ryanair subsidiary since summer 2020. The employment office initially granted the approximately 1.000 employees short-time work, but then withdrew the decision. On the other hand, the company took to court and won in the first instance. The first decision was justified, among other things, with the fact that the Federal Agency should have been clear from the company name alone that there was a foreign connection.

The employment office appealed. Now the regional social court has ordered that a notice of recognition has to be issued. The court justified this, among other things, with the fact that only personnel and aircraft are required for independent flight operations. Anyway, the other infrastructure will be used by the airports for a fee. After this notification has been sent, Malta Air can apply for short-time working again, retrospectively back to the date of the initial application in spring 2020.