Air Malta’s flight path remains a bit hazy as the search for a strategic partner picks up in the wake of what appears to be a frenetic drive to cut costs.

As time is now running out fast for the airline to become commercially viable by the end of the restructuring plan in March next year, it does seem from the snippets of information that come out that meeting the target is going to be difficult.

Making the airline leaner and more efficient in its operations will help a great deal but it would seem that there is hardly another option left other than striking a strategic alliance with another carrier.

Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis has confirmed that the airline is indeed seeking a strategic partner. However, he has also been reported as saying that this would not be the company’s long-term solution. If the remark is correct, the minister would need to explain what exactly is the airline’s long-term solution.

It is, of course, important, as the minister said, for the national carrier to keep cutting its core costs but there is ultimately a limit to the extent this can be done without jeopardising the quality of the service and the airline’s competitiveness.

For example, when it replaced the in-flight meal with a snack, the airline did cut costs but it also reduced the quality of the service and people started equating it with low-cost airlines. The tourism minister said fleet reduction may yet be another cost-cutting initiative that would save millions of euros if it were to be adopted

No matter, doing away with the meal and cutting further costs would be worth it if, through such cost-cutting measures alone, the airline could be saved. However, as the situation stands today the jigsaw pieces are far too scattered to form an opinion of how the airline is going to face the future after the expiry of the restructuring plan.

In so far as the search for a strategic partner is concerned, what is known up to now is that talks have been held with Turkish and Chinese carriers. No details are being given but the tourism minister said after talks in the Chinese capital that the matter had now reached a critical phase.

Time is now becoming a key factor in the equation as the deadline is looming steadily. The government has been eyeing China for closer investment links since the beginning of its term. It has already managed to attract Chinese involvement in Enemalta.

Rightly so, the government has at no time expressed any intention of relinquishing its majority shareholding in the airline, a matter that is of considerable importance to the country considering the key role Air Malta plays in linking the island with the outside world.

Last year, the government was also considering running a direct flight to an unspecified Chinese province as, according to the Chinese news agency, Xinhua, it aimed to bring over some 100,000 Chinese tourists annually. Nothing has been heard of this again.

Air Malta owes it to the country to do its best to become commercially viable. It is unfortunate that, at a time when the workers are being asked to make sacrifices, it emerges that the airline’s chairman recruited a driver from outside the company.

Even if the move was well-intentioned, the perception is what it is and senior people need to be attuned to this more than ever before.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.