Air Malta's internal selection process to fill vacancies in the new structure and external recruitment has been finalised, the airline said this morning.
It said that more than 1,000 applications were received from employees for the 161 positions in the new organisational structure.
However, certain skill sets were found not to be present within the airline and at least 21 positions will be offered to external candidates through the Employment and Training Corporation and adverts in the media.
In a statement this morning, Air Malta said that its massive restructuring projects were bringing change in a seamless transition.
Chief executive Peter Davies said that two of the areas which were critical for the airline's survival were organisational development, a systematic process of implementing effective organisational change and the rightsizing of the airline.
He noted that 500 employees applied for voluntary or early retirement schemes and employees were being released through a staggered and coordinated plan, depending on their role and section.
This process, which started last December, will continue until the end of this year. 444 employees will be released by the end of June. To date, 240 have already been released.
Mr Davies said that this outbound plan was moving in parallel with other organisational development projects including the internal selection process to fill vacancies in the new structure and external recruitment.
"This is a massive re-organisational project with many staff leaving, other taking up new roles, whilst new recruits joining the airline. Shifts and rosters are also being changed. These are exciting times for Air Malta as it has never been through such enormous change. The re-organisational projects are moving ahead through a seamless transition without disruption to the airline's operations," Mr Davies said.
He said that although staff reduction was not the only restructuring process, it was one of the most fundamental.
Parallel to this, the airline was working on its cultural transformation, development of human resources foundations, a performance management system and the implementation of the restructuring and collective agreements.