Air Malta pilots have decided to dress down in protest against what they deem to be poor working conditions.
While they have no plans to intensify their actions just yet, pilots are warning they are not excluding other severe measures in the coming weeks.
"We'll just have to wait and see," the president of the Airline Pilots Association (Alpa) James Fenech told The Times yesterday. For the moment, they will simply be reporting to work without a tie and their hats.
"The last thing we would want is to have to take action that affects the passengers but if nothing is done we will be forced to. However, even if we do nothing, the airline is going to end up without pilots anyway because they're all leaving," he said.
During recent talks on a new collective agreement, Mr Fenech said, the association asked for a pay rise. However, the company has so far ruled it out.
Given the current pay package and work conditions, the association is sure the airline will experience a complete haemorrhage of pilots.
The rescue plan drafted three years ago for the company managed to bring the carrier's losses down from Lm25.8 million in 2003 to Lm6.3 million last year, even as it struggled with a 71 per cent increase in the price of fuel. However, while the plan has largely hinged on tight wage budgeting, the association is insisting that the heavy demand for trained pilots by all major airlines has pushed up the pay packages and improved work conditions for pilots worldwide.
Even pilots working with low-cost carriers operating from Malta are given a good deal, Mr Fenech said, pointing out that Air Malta pilots on average are earning less than half their counterparts in Europe.
As a consequence, many Maltese pilots are moving on, leaving the national carrier facing severe shortages, to the point that over the last three years the airline lost 38 pilots. A further 30 pilots have resigned from the UK base. Air Malta employs 150 pilots.
The remaining crew are working beyond their contractual obligations, which means, among other things, that most pilots have been unable to take their full leave entitlement over the past two years, the association said.
In a press release issued late yesterday evening, Air Malta expressed its surprise at the attitude taken by Alpa. The airline said the new collective agreement being discussed is well underway and it believes such actions hinder the ongoing discussions between the two parties.
"The rescue plan signed in 2004 between Air Malta and the four unions representing the airline's employees was not just about savings in payroll - it was a company restructuring plan for the whole airline operation," Air Malta said. Thanks to this plan and the participation of all the airlines' employees represented by their unions, the airline feels it is in a much stronger position today to take on its current challenges.
While acknowledging the fact that some pilots have resigned to seek new opportunities with other airlines and Air Malta's pilots average block hours have risen in recent years, the airline said that pilot payroll figures show that, during the rescue plan period, the pilots' average gross yearly salaries have remained relatively static. "Although Air Malta appreciates each employee's contribution to the plan, the figure of Lm6,000 in payroll given up by each pilot to which Alpa made reference to during the rescue plan is incorrect," said the airline.
Air Malta said its pilot recruitment is an ongoing process and the airline has issued calls for applications among its staff members and the public. Calls have been issued to candidates with a commercial pilot licence (CPL) and also for ab initio pilots. The selection of the latter is being finalised while cadet pilots chosen from among employees have already commenced their training. A number of new recruits who held a CPL have already started flying with the airline.
The airline said that a year before the signing of the rescue plan in 2003 it incurred a loss of Lm13 million. During the last financial year Air Malta registered a loss of Lm3 million - therefore improving its performance by Lm10 million. It pointed out that, for the first time in its history, the airline carried more than two million passengers on its network.
"Had it not been for the unprecedented increase in the fuel prices the airline would now be in the black. This clearly shows that Air Malta has managed to exceed its obligation within the rescue plan," said the airline, while acknowledging the fact that all the unions, including Alpa, have also met all their obligations within the plan.
The airline believes that only through cordial negotiations can an agreement be reached in the interest of all parties.