MPs lose air tickets but get new allowance
Plans to abolish other perks
MPs will from this year receive an annual €1,500 travel allowance which will replace a free tickets scheme which Air Malta has decided to discontinue, a spokesman for Parliament told The Sunday Times.
Air Malta has for a number of years granted four free air tickets to every sitting MP annually for family or relatives. MPs only had to pay taxes on these economy-class tickets and could chose to fly to any of the destinations served by the national airline at the time.
Since this free ticket scheme for MPs has been stopped, Parliament’s administration has decided that every parliamentarian will be entitled to an air travel allowance of €1,500.
This new perk will be over and above the expenses incurred by MPs when they travel abroad on House business, which is covered by Parliament together with the allocation of a subsistence allowance.
Although the Parliament spokesman was not in a position to state how many of the serving MPs had used their free ticket allocation last year since this was administered by Air Malta, he pointed out that on some occasions MPs had given their entitlement to relatives of patients who were being treated abroad.
The spokesman said Parliament will retain a scheme introduced a few years ago entitling former MPs to two free air tickets every year, this time paid through a special budget reserved for ex-MPs.
According to Parliament, 43 of the current 95 former MPs made use of this scheme last year.
Various Air Malta schemes involving the allocation of free tickets, which have been introduced by the company over the past 35 years, are currently under review as part of the restructuring plan the government is planning to present to the European Commission by the end of this month.
Apart from free or heavily discounted air travel offered to its current and former employees and their families, Air Malta had also been instructed by the government to extend free tickets to those occupying important state offices such as presidents, prime ministers, ministers responsible for Air Malta and politically-appointed chairmen and directors sitting on its various boards.
Although these schemes are not considered to be a major burden on Air Malta’s finances, the government is intending to reduce them in scope.
Last December, the government had to seek EU permission to grant Air Malta a €52 million loan so it could keep the airline flying. The company made a loss of €31 million in 2009.