Half of Air Malta’s 1,200-strong workforce could be shed as part of the rescue plan being explored, it was learnt yesterday.

Civil aviation industry sources said the airline would need to shed about 600 employees to be able to operate profitably.

In the meantime, ahead of a final decision, a circular was issued to heads of government departments asking them to identify positions that could be filled by workers redeployed from Air Malta. In fact, the government is planning to employ as many redundant Air Malta employees as possible but this does not mean all of them will be redeployed with the public sector.

The sources said the steering committee working on the restructuring plan did not actually discuss redundancies but the report, being compiled, will go into each department and see how many workers the company could do without.

The plan is at “an advanced stage” and the government has now embarked on one-to-one meetings with union representatives to discuss the airline’s future in more detail.

Meetings were held with the General Workers’ Union and the unions representing cabin crew, pilots and the airline’s engineers.

The national carrier experienced severe losses over the past two years and the prospects for this financial year, which ends in March, are looking bleak. Late last year, the European Commission gave the government the go-ahead to pump €52 million in emergency aid into the airline. Approval was given on condition the airline underwent serious restructuring.

The plan to overhaul Air Malta has to be submitted by May and a draft restructuring proposal had to be presented by the end of January. The draft has not seen the light of day and, when asked about this, the Finance Ministry said the January date was “an internal working target date”.

“The deadlines, agreed with the Commission will be met,” a ministry spokesman said.