Air Malta able to service safe corridor routes with half its pilots – Economy Minister

Air Malta will be able to operate its safe corridor flights even with half of its pilots, Economy Minister Silvio Schembri said on the latest edition of Indepth.

He was answering a question posed by The Malta Independent’s Deputy Editor-in-Chief Neil Camilleri, wherein he was asked if he believes that Air

Malta will have enough pilots to operate flights to the 19 safe corridors once the airport reopens on 1 July seeing that 69 pilots are set to be laid-off.

Schembri said Air Malta had to lay off its pilots after failing to reach a compromise with the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA), despite the offers that the airline put forward.

“The company has been faced with some difficult times, which is why I vouched for it to get state aid. However, in these circumstances, we cannot just use up millions or euros for pilots’ early retirement as ALPA suggested.

“It would not have made sense to tell them to stay home and then reduce prices which incentivises travel”

There were instances of greed which were unacceptable,” he said.

One must understand that the aviation industry has changed completely and that the competition will be harsher than ever before, the minister said, while emphasising that Air Malta must be sustainable in that environment or else it will have no option but to close down.

“We don't afford not having a national airline. The majority of aviation workers understood this, even some pilots, but ALPA did not.”

He said that the number of pilots that Air Malta will have left after the layoffs will be enough to operate the 19 safe corridor routes.

“These destinations are a very small percentage from usual and I think that one or two planes would suffice to operate these flights,” the minister said.

He explained that having half of the pilots still employed means that Air Malta can man five planes not just two, meaning that it does not even need half of the pilots to operate flights for the 19 chosen destinations. However, the national airline kept this amount because it wanted to ensure that it will be able to operate all principal routes that bring in the most tourists.

During the interview, Schembri was also asked about the €900 million mini budget that was announced last Monday, which is aimed at helping businesses get back on their feet as they reopen after months of being shut down.

Reduction of fuel prices by 7 cents

Schembri was asked if the reduction in fuel prices was done specifically for this situation or if it is a result of a hedging agreement seeing that fuel prices have reduced internationally.

The minister explained that the reason why the government did not reduce fuel prices immediately, as the Nationalist party had proposed, was that the international drop in fuel prices came during the time that the government was urging people to stay at home.

“It would not have made sense to tell them to stay home and then reduce prices which incentivises travel,” he said. “Now that we are removing restrictions, we are taking that step to lower fuel prices, even though, internationally, it is on the rise again.”

He added that the plan is to hedge at a gradual pace in order to maintain stability and avoid breaking the economic chain by changing the prices every month as previous administrations had done, referring to when the PN was in government.

Asked for his opinion on the criticism that the recovery plan received from the Opposition, he promptly shot it down and attributed it to the Opposition's "populist proposals" during the pandemic.

He said that the easiest thing for the government to do was to give everyone what they need, like the Opposition suggested, but said that this would not have been sustainable in the long run, as every action has its repercussions.

Magisterial inquiry on misuse of public funds by the Cabinet

The minister was also asked if he has been called in to testify before the inquiry regarding allegations that have been made against Cabinet for misusing public funds for promotional material.

Schembri said that he has not been called, but he is “sincerely” looking forward to it as he is sure of the result that will emerge.

He reiterated Prime Minister Robert Abela’s words, saying that Cabinet is following the guidelines which were released by the Standards Commissioner George Hylzer after he had accused certain ministers of using public resources to raise their personal and political profiles.

“This inquiry is a balloon that is just waiting to pop in the faces of those making these allegations,” Schembri stated.