Air Malta must be treated as national asset, chairman insists

Outgoing Air Malta chairman Lawrence Zammit warned this evening that not treating the airline as a national asset would be harmful to the country and the aspirations of its people.

"Unfortunately it is becoming increasingly evident that there are some who believe that Malta can do without Air Malta, Mr Zammit said at the opening of the Amitex travel fair.

Malta, he said, was the EU country which was mostly dependent on tourism and air transport. Air Malta's success in its 36 years of history had been Malta's economic success.

"With foresight and determination, Air Malta has invested internal funds - not taxpayers' money, not subsidies - to restructure itself, to consolidate its business and grow it in the face of upheavals in fuel prices, exchange rates, recessions and cutthroat competition which have sent many businesses to the wall. It has spent millions of euro in ICT, process re-engineering and staff training to equip the airline with current operational and management standards. It continues to invest millions of euro annually in marketing Malta, without lobbying any of the Maltese tourism stakeholders to put pressure on the Maltese government to give us subsidies," Mr Zammit said.

He listed Air Malta's achievements over the years and stressed that Air Malta's successes were Malta's gains. The economic contribution of foreign carriers accrued in their own home country. The multiplier effect of tourists flown in by foreign carriers was much reduced due to the higher leakages resulting from the foreign fare element as well as subsidies given.

"For 36 whole years, Air Malta operated without subsidies. On the contrary it has invested millions in route development and tourism promotion. Air Malta is the product of the pioneering spirit, vision, creativity and professionalism of all those who gave of their best in recent years as much as in the past since inception. On behalf of all the stake holders of Air Malta, I thank them all," Mr Zammit said.

'WE NEED TO SEEK NEW SOLUTIONS' - MINISTER

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said that the airline's efforts over the past years, the restructuring process, the overhaul of its information and communication technology, operations and fleet, work processes, and the various cost cutting measures, the investment in staff training and the promotion of Malta abroad, were commendable. However persistent high fuel prices and unstable exchange rates and competition were here to stay.

"We therefore need to seek new solutions, more efforts and re-challenge our way of doing things to ensure Air Malta’s sustainable and viable future," he said.

"We have to ask the necessary questions, be willing to make further changes to make the organisation leaner and more effective, to rethink Air Malta’s business model, its core strategies and its working practices and be ready to undertake a sustainable financial restructuring plan. No stone must be left unturned if we are to ensure its survival over the long-term. Clearly, such rethinking will also be required if any kind of restructuring support is to ever be considered by the European Commission.

"I do believe that Air Malta has an important role to play over the next years and it is for such reason that we must not shy away from implementing the necessary reforms which are required to ensure the airline’s viability," Mr Fenech said.