At least one Air Malta flight was cancelled last night as negotiations between the airline and the Airline Pilots’ Association (Alpa) turned sour.

An Air Malta statement had warned that flight disruptions may be possible due to crew shortage, and said the company would advise passengers of any changes in its flight operations as negotiations between the two sides stalled on Thursday.

Passengers on the Manchester-bound 6 p.m. flight were informed their flight had been cancelled an hour-and-a-half after the scheduled departure time. Air Malta said last night that it would operate an extra flight to and from Manchester today.

Association president Dominic Azzopardi accused the airline’s CEO of derailing talks, mismanagement, squandering the company’s money and hijacking the management with his “well-paid friends”.

Air Malta responded by saying pilots had demanded a 35 per cent increase “and that is just one of the things they asked for”.

Sources yesterday told The Times that although the national airline is currently undergoing a delicate restructuring process involving a substantial state subsidy, Alpa asked for a one-time payment of €24,000 for each pilot.

This amounts to almost €3 million, in addition to substantial increases in their basic pay and allowances. Pilots’ current financial packages vary between €50,000 and €80,000 per year.

When contacted, Mr Azzopardi rubbished the airline’s claims of exaggerated demands and instead turned his guns on the company’s foreign CEO Peter Davies.

Describing him as “the company’s principal illness”, he said pilots were prepared to give up their increase if they were assured the company was being well managed.

“Look who’s talking about increases,” he said sarcastically, making reference to Mr Davies’ €500,000 annual financial package.

“He (Mr Davies) and his friends have hijacked the company and they are accusing us of asking for an exaggerated increase...

“Let me make it clear that we are prepared to forfeit our increase if he shows us in black and white how much he is paying his friends.

“I insist that Mr Davies should resign or made to resign,” he said, accusing him of gross mismanagement.

Mr Azzopardi is currently the subject of an internal investigation after allegedly delaying the departure of an Air Malta flight from Milan when he was travelling with his family last July. He denies the accusations.

Pressed on why he is insisting on delving into management matters when he should be representing the pilots’ interests, Mr Azzopardi argued the company’s management is purely his interest.

“Of course it is my interest to know how the company is run.

“If it goes down we will all lose our jobs, while he (the CEO) will go off to manage his hotel (in the UK),” he said.

Mr Davies did not comment, stating his interest was the airline ­– not personal attacks.

“These comments in the press are not helping the current state of negotiations and I don’t want to personalise this issue,” he said.

Passengers travelling with Air Malta were advised to confirm their departure and arrival times by calling 5230 2000.

Passengers travelling with Air Malta were advised to confirm their departure and arrival times by calling 5230 2000.