Pilots turn down financial package

The Air Malta pilots' union has turned down a package offered by the airline which included Lm50,000 for captains and Lm40,000 for first officers, Public Investments Minister Austin Gatt told Parliament yesterday.

He said the airline and the union had had intensive talks and the packages which had been offered were very good, and even better than what the airline was paying its foreign pilots based in the UK. Unfortunately, however, the union had turned them down.

He said that since 2005 Air Malta had engaged 51 foreign pilots for its UK-based operations and 18 other foreign pilots for services from Malta. All the UK-based pilots and three of those employed in Malta had had previous experience while the rest had started their careers with the airline.

Replying to questions by Leo Brincat (MLP), Dr Gatt said that over the past winter Air Malta had managed to raise the utilisation of its aircraft by leasing one to an airline in Santiago, Chile and another in Tripoli, Libya. Since these aircraft continued to be flown by Air Malta personnel, leave had to be restricted. However, all requests for leave were currently being met.