The Nationalist Party is seriously concerned about the future of Air Malta, party leader Simon Busuttil said today during a meeting with the Federated Association of Travel & Tourism Agents.
Dr Busuttil said that the losses the airline was making weres not in conformity with the restructuring plan agreed upon between the government and the European Commission.
The Nationalist government, he said, did not politically interfere in the running of the airline, as was happening now with the employment of 300 new workers at a time when the company was supposed to be restructuring.
Addressing a news conference earlier, PN spokesman Robert Arrigo said Air Malta's financial situation proved that the national airline had not been on track for the past two years.
This was what the Nationalist Party had been saying all along, Mr Arrigo said. He asked the government what it planned to do regarding the sale of the airline or parts of it and said the government did not have a mandate to sell the airline.
Over the years the government always said the restructuring plan was on track when replying to questions in Parliament, he said.
Air Malta's financial results, revealed during the annual general meeting yesterday, showed that it halved its losses to €16 million during the financial year that ended last March and was expecting similar losses next year.
According to the structure plan, the company should not have suffered losses this year when a €3.2 million profit was forecast.
During a press conference at the PN headquarters Mr Arrigo said that the airline was using excuses and saying this was due to competition and the situation in Libya. But competition always existed and the PN government had also faced a Libya crisis.
The airline knew that competitiveness was increasing and did nothing.
"If we keep employing people where they are not needed and not having enough sales the airline will never be on track," he said.
He said he was informed that the ground handling costs in Malta were among the highest in Europe having increased by some 50 per cent. There was instances when a plane in summer carried out just one trip, he said.
The financial report showed that the restructuring plan was on track until 2012, when the PN was in government.
The Labour government employed another 300 people and promoted 17 inflight attendants, costing the airline €20,000 more a month. It also transferred people and gave jobs to people it had promised jobs increasing the payroll by €230,000.
There was no political interference from the PN, he said referring to the chairwoman's appeal to politicians to back off an not interfere.
Kristy Debono said that from the economic angle the tourism sector was becoming more important to the economy and currently contributed a quarter of the GDP. This important sector depended on the sustainability and strength of Air Malta so the Opposition had the duty to ask government what the plan was to achieve this.
"What went wrong?.... Will plans be open to the public or will they be in a back room?" she said.
PL'S REACTION
In a statement, the Labour Party said that had things gone well under the previous administration, the airline would not have needed to restructure to find its feet.
Although the airline had again suffered losses, this was reduced by half from €30.9 million to €16.2 million.
AIR MALTA EXPLAINS
In a statement, Air Malta said the comments made by its chairman yesterday did not infer that there was government interference. The comments were intended to ensure that the national airline had everyone’s support - government and Opposition - to allow the board and management to focus on bringing the airline back to viability, rather than politicising the situation.
"The Board and the management remain committed to achieving the targets set in the restructuring plan and turning the airline around by 2016,” the airline said.
GOVERNMENT DENIED POLITICAL INTERFERENCE
The Tourism Ministry in its reaction said the leader of the opposition and his party had no credentials to speak about Air Malta since the airline was brought to the edge of collapse under the former administration..
Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis denied any political interference in Air Malta, saying it was never allowed to work as serenely as today.
The minister said the governemnt had appointed competent people to the airline, without political considerations. This was a serious and transparent management team, as shown in yesterday’s annual general meeting, and it contrasted with the situation in the past which had even led to Mr Arrigo himself complaining in April 2013.
Through its comments today, the opposition was showing that it had ignored the appeal by the airline’s chairwoman not to make a political football of the airline, the minister said.