The Air Malta pilots’ union, ALPA, said today that it doubted that the number of pilots who reported sick yesterday was as high as the airline was making it out to be.

In a statement, the union said it would not allow this episode to be used to hide Air Malta management’s inefficiency.

The union said it understood the inconvenience suffered by passengers yesterday, and said this was an accumulation of circumstances over which it had no control.

The way the airline was assigning pilots was not viable and was normally used only in emergencies.

Since there was a shortage of pilots, the airline every morning had to rely on those who were on standby.

This had happened after the airline introduced an early retirement scheme this year, and paid off 17 pilots.

The union insisted that it would not allow pilots to be used to hide the management’s mistakes, squandering and inefficiency.

Air Malta said this morning that flights today were operating normally as pilots returned to work.