First meeting to be held this Friday

The Air Malta steering committee, set up to oversee the restructuring of the national airline facing financial straits, will meet for the first time on Friday, the Finance Ministry said yesterday.

The committee made up of representatives from the government, the opposition and trade unions, will oversee the restructuring of Air Malta which suffered losses of €31 million in 2009 and is expected to go deeper in the red this year.

The date was made public yesterday but only after it was mentioned by Labour leader Joseph Muscat earlier in the day while addressing a political meeting.

The Finance Ministry criticised Dr Muscat for being “partisan” in questioning the urgency of the situation at Air Malta when he let it be known the steering committee had not yet met.

Speaking in Victoria, Dr Muscat explained the Labour Party had decided to sit on the committee because the issues revolving around the airline were of national interest. Also, the party wanted to make sure Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi kept his word with Air Malta employees over a promise made before the general election, guaranteeing the company’s future.

The employees had shouldered the burden of the company’s problems through wage freezes dating back years while people in high-ranking posts were given allowances, he said. Air Malta’s problems were not caused by low cost airlines but by the way these were introduced by the government, he added.

“At present, there was lack of coordination between three crucial elements: the tourism authority, Air Malta and the person responsible for tourism,” he said. This “total” lack of strategy was one of the reasons that led to the present situation.

Dr Muscat also called on the government to explain why it had not made a formal request to inject €100 million to the EU last year.

The Finance Ministry said the setting up of the committee was announced last Monday in Parliament when it was confirmed the EU had authorised a temporary loan of €52 million to Air Malta.

That same day, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech wrote to the opposition and the trade unions asking them to nominate their representatives to the committee by last Friday. Everyone, including the opposition, had agreed the meetings would be held on Fridays to reduce travel-related problems, it said.

Dr Muscat’s comments were “unfair and irresponsible”, the ministry said, pointing out that work on the airline restructuring programme had continued during the setting up of the committee.

However, the PL pointed out that two Fridays had passed since the meeting that had been chaired by President George Abela on November 8 and when it had been agreed that a steering committee should be set up and meetings would be held every Friday. It was not the party’s intention to get into “useless controversies” but hoped the national interest prevailed, it said.