A new style of management and controls at Gozo Channel has brought down last year’s losses to just over €600,000, compared with foregoing losses of €1.6 million, Gozo Minister Anton Refalo told Jason Azzopardi yesterday.

The Opposition MP had asked about the thinking behind the plan to introduce priority boarding from Gozo.

Dr Refalo made it clear that priority boarding would never be an excuse to raise ferry fares. Rather, it was meant to help people with urgent business to attend, such as going to hospital or catching a flight, to reach Malta.

He said part of the reason for the drop in losses was the meaningful action taken on reports of wanton spending and theft from ticket and cafeteria sales, which had previously gone unheeded.

The perpetrators were not even disciplined under the previous management and nobody was held accountable. The reduction in losses would be used for new initiatives that would eventually make the firm financially viable.