The future of the Maltese airline Air Malta is currently hanging by a thread and is unclear. Leading politicians like Prime Minister Robert Abela do not want to be pinned down to specific statements.

Air Malta has been in deficit for many years and has repeatedly been kept aloft with the help of government cash injections. After the last subsidy, the EU Commission stipulated that no state money may be transferred over a longer period of time. The Maltese government suspects that Brussels will not give the green light for the corona aid.

Therefore, it is said that a hard cut is to be made along the lines of Alitalia/Ita Airways. If this scenario were implemented, Air Malta would cease flight operations at the end of the 2022 summer flight schedule period and the state-owned Malta MedAir would take over. The latter company has significantly fewer staff and also significantly lower wages. Interestingly, Air Malta's media outlet denies there are any plans to close.

In politics, however, it is more or less openly said that a new beginning must be dared. However, too much information has obviously been made public, as numerous executives, but also pilots and flight attendants, have meanwhile left Air Malta and, for example, been hired by the startup SkyUp Malta. This "mass exodus" is now becoming a problem, because gradually there is an acute shortage of staff in many areas of Air Malta.

The company, which obviously has an extremely inflated administrative apparatus, wants to get rid of many employees. The government plans to continue employing them in authorities and offices, with the same salaries. This is a problem in many cases, because the civil servants sometimes earn considerably less. So far there have only been a few changes.

Prime Minister wants to continue to maintain a state airline

Prime Minister Robert Abela said Malta will continue to have a national airline. However, he expressly avoided affirming the continued existence of Air Malta. The government only wants to take care of those employees who lose their jobs because of the restructuring and let them work in public authorities. The Prime Minister declined to ask whether the future flag carrier would be state-owned Air Malta or the state-owned Malta MedAir will be, not one at all. “We will continue to have a national airline. I believe that a national airline can be sustainable, especially given our insularity,” said Abela.

The Prime Minister is critical of the strategy that was chosen from 2013. At that time, a low-cost product began to be introduced in order to be able to keep up with the competitor Ryanair, for example. The Irish group is now not only the market leader in Luqa, but also operates the two largest airlines, Malta Air and Lauda Europe, which have their headquarters in the Republic of Malta. Abela believes that tough competition, increased fuel costs, the Covid pandemic and various management issues have led to Air Malta's misery.

Opposition criticized, finance minister similarly taciturn

The opposition is not sparing in its criticism of the prime minister. This is based on the fact that Abela avoids answers to questions about the future of Air Malta or beats around the bush, as an indication that the government should have no concrete plan for the restructuring or future of the state airline. They demand that the cards should be put on the table and that assets and debts at home and abroad should be made public.

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana is just as taciturn as the head of government. During a press conference this week, he did not want to specifically rule out the possibility that Air Malta could be replaced by another airline, such as Malta MedAir. He emphasized that the restructuring program should be "on the right track". The member of the government repeatedly stated that the restructuring was not news and was announced back in January 2022.

Ground Handling is outsourced

According to Caruana, concrete decisions on a possible break-up of Air Malta should only be made once talks with the European Commission about the Corona subsidy for Air Malta have been completed. The competition authorities have been asked for the green light, but it is not at all about it at the moment. The talks have been going on for a few months and have literally stalled.

Caruana also had to admit that Air Malta now has a staffing problem. Although many administrative employees are to be transferred to state agencies, many key workers, flight attendants and pilots have left the company voluntarily. This meant that at least 50 new employees had to be hired. However, they receive significantly lower wages than their predecessors.

In any case, it is certain that Air Malta will part with ground handling at Luqa Airport. The company currently handles itself with its own employees and its own apron equipment. The areas of baggage and ground handling services are to be spun off. Both the carrier and the government members are silent about a possible buyer.