Air Malta flight cancelled because of 'pilot shortage'

Air Malta's flight KM630/1 to Bologna on Monday was cancelled due to fog, the Airline Pilot's Association (Alpa) said yesterday.

Alpa said that although one might assume that the company had no fault in this, in reality, the flight could have been operated had Air Malta "taken care of its pilots".

"The reason the flight had to be cancelled was that one of the pilots assigned to operate this particular flight was a new recruit, employed to mitigate the pilot shortage.

"Since he did not have the required hours, he couldn't legally operate into an airport affected by fog, which was the case in Bologna on Monday.

"Due to the pilot shortage, Air Malta could not find a qualified, experienced pilot who could fly in low visibility," it said. The association said such cancellation is further proof of the validity of Alpa's declared position on Air Malta's pilot shortage.

"Alpa is seriously concerned that more flights will be cancelled during this winter as a result of the low experience of these pilots in addition to the inclement weather expected in winter," it said.