Pilots give thumbs up to agreement

Air Malta pilots yesterday voted in favour of a new collective agreement during a 12-hour poll that came to an end at 10 p.m.

Backdated to August 2007 and covering until July 2010, a draft agreement was hammered out between the Airline Pilots' Association and Air Malta management during marathon talks that ended last Monday.

It has still to be approved by the airline's board of directors, which is expected to meet this week.

Details of the agreement were explained to pilots during an extraordinary general meeting on Friday after they had threatened strike action a few weeks ago when talks became deadlocked.

Association president James Fenech said some minor points were raised during the meeting and these have been clarified with Air Malta.