Alitalia flights to and from Malta will not be affected by the Italian airline's decision to cancel 100 flights a day due to strikes by pilots and flight attendants.

Most of the trips that have been cancelled are internal, Alitalia's district manager for Malta, Edward Magro, said when contacted.

The Associated Press yesterday reported that the airline decided to scrap 100 flights a day until the end of November due to "ongoing wildcat strikes" by pilots and flight attendants who are objecting to selling the carrier to a group of Italian investors. Protesters have been applying job rules strictly or calling in sick, AP reported, causing delays and forcing cancellations.

Alitalia, which has been in business since 1946, has been making headlines since it filed for bankruptcy in August.

At the end of October Compania Aerea Italiana (Cai) investment group made an offer to buy the airline for €1 billion after the Italian government sank €4.5 billion into the airline between 1998 and 2005.

Cai plans to link Alitalia with a major European airline but Alitalia employees are upset at plans to sell the bankrupt airline's profitable assets to Cai, which is formed by a group of Italian industrialists, BBC has reported.

Last week a 24-hour strike by pilots and cabin crew at the national airline caused disruption at Rome's main airport, Fiumicino. The following day the European Commission approved the proposed sale of Alitalia's assets to the Cai investor group.

The Commission ordered Alitalia, half of whose shares are owned by the government, to repay the €300 million loan that the Italian government gave it in April. This was deemed to be illegal state aid that is now to be repaid from the airline's liquidation proceeds.