An Air Malta investigation into a flight delay allegedly caused by the president of the airline pilots’ association, Domenic Azzopardi, has not been dropped, according to the airline’s CEO Peter Davies.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Sunday Times, Mr Davies denies rumours that the probe was abandoned to secure a deal on a new collective agreement with pilots.

In August, The Sunday Times reported that Air Malta was holding an inquiry to establish whether Captain Azzopardi was responsible for a 30-minute flight delay.

The flight, from Milan to Malta on July 27, was reportedly delayed because the pilot waited for Captain Azzopardi and his three family members, who were late to board after a private holiday.

Captain Azzopardi, who was flying with his wife and his two children, had vehemently denied being late for the flight, insisting that “there was a problem with security”.

But Air Malta had said it received a number of complaints from other passengers, and was taking the incident “very seriously” and launched a formal investigation into the matter.

From initial reports it had received, the airline said this incident seemed like a case of “misuse of authority”.

When asked about the inquiry, Mr Davies stressed that it would continue and had certainly not been dropped.

“It’s just a process that we’re going through... We’ll get to the bottom of that and Domenic will have his opportunity to explain the circumstances, as indeed would other people, about why that particular aircraft was delayed.”

He said two “independent” people had been appointed to review the case, one chosen by Air Malta and another chosen by Alpa.

Last month, Air Malta finalised its negotiations with the pilots in a €4.5 million deal, which, as Mr Davies also says in the interview, will actually only cost the airline €1 million since the airline could recoup up to three quarters of the gross figure due to added productivity.

Asked if the investigation had been delayed to ensure the signing of a deal with the pilots, Mr Davies said: “Absolutely not... If I felt that was appropriate to make a decision at the time I would have done. It has nothing to do with the collective agreement.”

Mr Davies also denied reports that action against Capt. Azzopardi was somehow time-barred.

In the interview Mr Davies also speaks about Air Malta’s operational profit for the first half of the year. He says the airline’s restructuring programme is “bang on target”, if not “slightly ahead”, but warned that the second half of the year will see a loss.