The apparent lowering of tension on the Air Malta front allows more space to try to find and implement solutions to the airline’s operating and financial problems. It by no means suggests that the problems have eased. If anything, with each passing day and further mounting losses, they have intensified.

It is mystifying, in the absence of relevant information, how after months of reviewing of the company’s affairs by the Ernst and Young consultants, and the submission of their findings and proposals, it is still not possible for the new management team to say exactly what needs to be done.

Heavy cuts in expenditure must be made. That much was told and is understood. But where, exactly? How many jobs are to be shed? The answer has nothing to do with the schemes intended to bring about a voluntary reduction in the staff complement before the knife is wielded.

If it is not clear what needs to be – and can be – done, the consultants’ report was really an exercise of little use which disappointed the government despite its €3.3 million cost.

From what I hear, though, the core of the report may form the basis of the new approach still being considered. Ernst and Young had commented that since the introduction of low-cost (LCCs) carriers the company’s product positioning and market offering had become confused. The company, commented the consultants, continued to provide a quality-based product but on routes had a pricing structure which had been set to compete with LCCs, rather than reflect its premium offering.

The consultants preferred what they called a value focused hybrid carrier, which segregated ticket prices into a number of components (like credit card use, seat reservation, baggage and check-in). From what I hear the new management is proceeding broadly along those lines. It targets a low-cost approach to passengers in economy class, while maintaining a club class (which accounts for some three per cent of seats) on the traditional routes.

One wonders whether this is correct. It implies trying to change a model which keeps Air Malta as the largest contributor to the island flow, attracting 1.7 million passengers last year, up on the previous 12 months. Is it really possible to compete with the likes of Ryanair on their terms?

The new board of directors and management have a very difficult task to unravel. There are no clear answers. It is certain, though, that Malta – not just Air Malta – cannot afford more mistakes. Industrial action would be a mistake, that much is understood. Some jobs, persistently but not officially put at 511, have to go so that more jobs – and the airline – can be saved.

The question remains – will they be saved? Selective leaks and interviews where scant information is dribbled out are as useless – wasteful, in fact – as obsessions with the pay packet and tax rates of the new expatriate management.

Clear and focused thinking is required which does not see cost cutting as the only route forward. That has its own cost on the broader front. For instance, taking a plane out of service reduces the carrying capacity to Malta by around 60,000 passengers, mostly tourists. Though operating expenses must be cut, new revenue generation is just as important. Little has been heard about that.

The Prime Minister was right to task the new, well-staffed board of directors with doing their acute job without political considerations. There was far too much of that in the past, not least in recent years. Yet that is only one of the constraints. Another one hanging over Air Malta is the time factor.

The more time passes without structured action, the bigger the danger of doing even as much as could be done, but too late.