The collapse of Air Malta
Air Malta, as we’ve known it for half a century, will be no more.The government has thrown in the towel, and announced on Monday that there is no way that the national carrier can be saved. It has accumulated too much debt, a result of bad policies and decisions that were taken in the past years, to be able to make it.
It will cease operations on 30 March, 2024, and a day later a new national airline will take its place. KM Malta will be substituting it, in the hope that things will work out differently this time.
The choice of the date of the closure is probably not a coincidence. Malta celebrates what is known as Freedom Day on 31 March, a day which is held dear in the hearts of all that is Labour; as from next year, that day will have another significance in Malta’s history. It will be the day that the new national carrier will be born.
This Labour government, Prime Minister Robert Abela in primis, will be remembered as the one under whose administration what was once the pride of the nation will close its doors. There was a time when Air Malta was considered to be a top carrier in Europe, and the first choice for Maltese travelling in and out of the country. It is no longer so.
Abela promised a seamless transition, but we do wonder what would have happened if the Nationalist Party was in power at a time when such a drastic decision has been taken.
The older generations remember how PN governments used to face so much distress each time there was some kind of trouble at Air Malta. The General Workers Union was always at the forefront in these situations. It did not happen this time.
But, aside from the political reverberations, last Monday – the day when the closure was announced officially – was a sad day for Malta, and 30 March will be even sadder when the last Air Malta flight will be operated. The national carrier’s failure is a national failure, as successive administrations were unable to keep the company afloat as times changed.
We are told that the new company will be profitable. There will be fewer workers, but also fewer flights and destinations, trimmed to 17 from the 37 that are currently operated, which means that options will be reduced, unless other airlines jump in to take over the destinations vacated by Air Malta.
The number of aircraft will remain the same – eight. It’s hoped that the seat load factor will be better for the new airline. Every time a plane lifts off, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said, it must be making a profit.
We will wait and see how things develop.