Air Malta, cabin crew union reach agreement

Air Malta and the Union of Cabin Crew have reached agreement on a dispute which last week disrupted a Moscow service, causing long delays.

The agreement was reached during mediation by the Union Haddiema Magħqudin, Air Malta said.

Air Malta had said it faced a €109,000 bill following a 16-hour delay caused by cabin crew who refused to operate a flight to Moscow because it would have exceeded their flying time limit by just three minutes.

The Union of Cabin Crew had warned that it could resort to a full-blown strike after Air Malta said it would be filing a judicial protest against both the union and the five cabin crew . The 16-hour delay caused delays on two other return flights to Manchester and Vienna.

Union president David Sargent said action against cabin crew was unacceptable since the crew members were simply obeying a union directive which did not allow them to exceed 12 hours of flying time.