Air Malta CEO will not be renewing contract

Air Malta CEO Philip Micallef told this newsroom that his contract will end soon, and indicated that he will not be renewing it.

Mr Micallef was appointed to the post in October 2014. While refusing to give a specific date, he did say he had a two-year contract. “I will honour my contract to the last day. Asked whether he would renew his contract he said, No, I’m over 62 now.”

Mr Micallef gave certain reasons why he would not renew his contract, which were not related to the Alitalia deal or the ALPA’s industrial action threats. He also said that Air Malta will later announce his successor.

This newspaper is informed that Mr Micallef’s successor has already been chosen. That person is understood to be Joe Galea, who currently serves as the airline’s Deputy Chief Commercial Officer.

Air Malta is currently in the heat of the negotiations with Alitalia, which has resulted in some controversy considering that unions representing workers with the airline were meant to start negotiations on new collective agreements. It is unclear how Mr Micallef’s departure will affect the negotiations on both issues.

The Prime Minister said recently that talks for Alitalia to become an Air Malta strategic partner and have a 49 per cent share in Air Malta, are proceeding at a strong pace.

Air Malta recently filed a court action to stop ALPA from holding further industrial action, in the light of new collective agreement negotiations being suspended. Earlier this week, both the pilots and the airline came to an agreement to meet again on Wednesday, in an attempt to break the impasse on pay talks.

The meeting was arranged after Mr Justice Silvio Meli warned both parties that an escalation of the dispute could result in irreversible consequences.

During the court sitting, the airline’s lawyer said that negotiations with Alitalia must be concluded by the end of October for the national airline to keep operating.