The man with his hands on the wheel at Air Malta, chief executive officer Joe Cappello, is absent from the government team handling the airline’s restructuring talks with unions, The Times has learnt.

Mr Cappello, who has been with the airline since 1976, was not present for the meetings held with the unions earlier this week. Air Malta was represented by its chairman, Sonny Portelli, who was appointed in January this year.

When asked to explain his absence, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech brushed aside the question, saying The Times could not have noticed the chief executive officer’s absence because the newspaper was not present for the meetings.

However, Mr Cappello confirmed his absence when contacted, insisting there was “nothing strange”.

“The company has to have one spokesman in the talks and most of the issues being dealt with at the moment concern the relationship between the company and its shareholder, which falls in the chairman’s remit,” Mr Cappello said, pointing out he was still CEO.

“At this stage I do not see it strange that I am not present. There is nothing mysterious in this,” he insisted.

Mr Cappello is the second chief executive officer in Air Malta’s history, having been appointed in 2006 replacing Swiss Ernst Funk, who had been there for three years. Before 2002, the airline had no chief executive officer as such and the role was vested in the chairman.

The Air Malta saga continued yesterday with Mr Fenech insisting the government would wait for the discussions with Brussels to end before announcing the loan amount requested in a Bill presented in Parliament on Thursday.

The government is asking Parliament to approve a loan to finance the airline in this financial year.

“The amount still has to be established with the European Commission. When Brussels approves the rescue aid we will announce the amount, which will then be included in the Bill,” Mr Fenech said.

The company yesterday broke its silence since restructuring talks started on Monday, categorically denying media reports the airline was planning to dismiss 1,000 employees.

“Air Malta confirms that leading international consultants from Ernst and Young have been engaged to draw up a restructuring plan to ensure the long-term viability of the airline,” the company said, insisting any speculation on its financial performance for this financial year was “premature”, particularly because it ends in March 2011.

The airline said formal discussions with the unions had already started and it would be “communicating directly” with its employees to update them on the developments.

Earlier, the General Workers’ Union’s general secretary, Tony Zarb addressed airline workers from the engineering section, the third such meeting this week, in a bid to boost their morale.

He told employees the union raised the Air Malta issue at a meeting of the International Transport Federation and called on workers to remain united at this difficult moment.

An employee with over 30 years experience at Air Malta who spoke to The Times after the meeting said workers were very tense because they did not know what the future held. “I have worked here for 34 years, a lifetime. In the past, we were the envy of other companies but today people cringe when I tell them I work at Air Malta,” she said.

Another employee, a man who has been working at Air Malta for 10 years, said he was saddened by the affair. “There will be no Christmas for us with all these doubts hanging over the company. It is unfair,” he said.

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